Point of View

"We are creating a single information network that is going to contain all the data from job centres and various recruitment agencies. It will also have information about the situation in the economy and about the skills and professions that are currently in demand in the job market across the country. The network is being created at the moment. I think it's going to become available in June."

"We must thoroughly address the issue of creating effective and well-paid jobs. For this reason, special employment programmes and support of one-industry towns will be continued. Togliatti will be one of the first cities to receive support. This year, 43.7 billion roubles were allocated for special employment programmes. In 2010, the amount allocated will be slightly smaller - 36.3 billion roubles, but this sum is large enough to cope with our problems."

"We have managed to stabilise the labour market and prevent unemployment from spiralling out of control. During the recent televised question and answer session, I said that people's real disposable incomes would be much the same as in 2008, or decrease by only 0.4%. And now that we have the data for the whole year, it turns out there even was some growth. People's real disposable incomes will increase by about 0.7-1%."

"In Russia, salaries fell somewhat in the commercial sector. At the same time, the salaries of state-employed workers grew by a little over 5%, to be exact, by 3.8-5%, thanks to boosting the funds allocated for salary payments by 30% in December 2008. The effect was felt in 2009. Pensioners' revenues also surged, compared with what they received before. Salaries dropped by 10-12% in the commercial sector, but there was a slight increase in other economic sectors. Taken altogether, these factors resulted in real disposable incomes being down -0.4%, which is virtually the level of 2008".

“Additional support measures are stipulated for school graduates, people with disabilities. A job created for a disabled person entitles the employer to a subsidy of 30,000 roubles. College and university graduates will be afforded extended training periods at factories and plants with pay, enabling them to gain practical experience.”

“In 2009, we have generally managed to free up the jobs market. Our efforts had a positive impact after all, though not in every area. Regional programmes involved almost 2,200,000 people, who were facing joblessness because of the crisis or sackings. People were given real help when they most needed it. Of course, we are aware that many people are questioning the quality of these jobs, and rightly so. But, again, this was a makeshift decision, taken at the time of a sharp economic crisis. In this context, we decided to carry on with our anti-crisis measures and support the jobs market in 2010. We are allocating 36.3 billion roubles for these purposes.”

"We decided to continue employment programmes through 2010, and we will allocate 36 billion roubles from the federal budget for this purpose. The effectiveness of our efforts mainly depends on municipal authorities, their ability to handle the situation on-site, and their understanding of the actual state of affairs. Obviously, it will be necessary to revise the priorities for our programmes supporting the labour market, which must be done while taking into account long-term plans to modernise and diversify the economy."

"Next year's priorities must include increasing employees' professional skills, thus ensuring effective employment and creating new, highly-paid jobs. We need to pay more attention to retraining and advanced training programmes. We must also more actively support self-employment and new businesses. In addition, employment programmes must be supplemented by measures targeted to support the most vulnerable social groups, including large families, people with disabilities, seniors - everyone who has difficulty finding a new job, or is unable to find one at all."

"On the whole, the situation on the labour market remains stable. Positive trends in industry and other spheres, and resumed production growth, even if minor, have had a positive effect on employment. In the last four months, the number of unemployed registered at the employment centres has decreased by almost 200,000 people."

"In addition to this, the amount for professional retraining of the unemployed will be increased from 5,000 roubles to 11,000 roubles. The term of retraining is increased accordingly. As we agreed, this revision was conducted in close cooperation with the heads of the regions, and they requested an increase in the term. For some trades, five months are not long enough. Our colleagues believe that this term should be increased to at least six months. This means that the funding should be raised accordingly."