“Official unemployment has dropped by a million in the past year. That is a very good pace for cutting unemployment. The economy is also recovering at a fairly rapid pace, which is the most important factor for the labour market to rebound. But there is another side to this problem. We should not replicate the inefficient jobs and industries of yesterday; we need to build a modern labour market to create new, high-tech and high-paid jobs. We will move in this direction.”
“What the problem is with our educational system? The problem, unfortunately, is that there is a disconnect between how professionals are educated and what the labour market actually needs. Our goal, the government's goal is to first of all combine these two components. And here there are several ways to address this problem. One of them is early internships at companies that are interested in recruiting particular specialists. Such a practice is now becoming more widespread.”
“Long-term unemployment is probably the region's most acute social and even psychological challenge. A jobless person, especially a young one, feels abandoned and loses hope. I believe that our effectiveness in addressing the problem of unemployment will be the yardstick by which we measure the success of our joint efforts in the North Caucasus. Over the next 10 years, we must meet a critical objective: creating at least 400,000 new jobs in the North Caucasus. And we must do it together.”
At the same time, it's necessary to increase our efforts in addressing the strategic objectives of the development of the labour market. I'm referring primarily to advanced training programmes. People have shown interest in training for new professions. State employment agencies should offer more such opportunities, organising internships for young professionals and helping people with disabilities find jobs.
“We value your opinion of the effectiveness of the policies to support employment, including regional programmes to reduce the strain on the labour market. And I must say that last year we managed to defuse the situation in the labour market thanks to the implementation of these programmes and the insistent but reasonable policies of the trade unions. Once again, I would like to express my hope that we will continue to work together well into the future.”
“We took preventive action to avert critical unemployment growth, to enable people to keep their jobs, to learn new professions or to open their own businesses. We also tried to help enterprises retain their most skilled personnel. Employment-facilitation programmes covered 2.8 million people. In February 2009, unemployment hit an all-time high of 7.1 million during the crisis, declining to 6.4 million in March 2010. Although this is still a lot, the overall trend seems positive. This means that, regardless of seasonal fluctuation, we managed to launch processes that restored the labour market and promoted the creation of jobs.”
"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."
"We have decided to increase financial support for citizens who have temporarily lost their jobs and who want to start their own business. This support will be almost doubled – from 30,000 roubles to 59,000 roubles. This is the annual sum of the biggest unemployment benefit."
"This is the first positive trend in the labour market. The number of people registered as unemployed is falling. We hope that is due to our work, at least partly. At the same time, the situation is still difficult. So it's too early rest on our laurels. Any measures we are planning in this area need to be analysed in every aspect, down to the smallest detail, and implemented persistently."
"Material aid will be given to 52,000 businessmen, who, apart from employing themselves, will create 150,000 new jobs under their contractual commitments. I'm talking about small businesses."
"I'd like to dwell in more detail on regional employment programmes. As of today, all of the 82 regional programmes have been agreed on and endorsed. These programmes will be funded from the federal budget by 93%. All in all, 43.7 billion roubles have been reserved for this purpose, and will be transferred to the regions as subsidies. A total of 9.2 billion roubles have already been wired to 75 regions. More than a million temporary jobs will be created as a result of this measure; about 220,000 people will be retrained, and 50,000 people will undergo practical training. About 16,000 people, who will relocate from their place of residence to acquire jobs in other regions, will receive targeted financial help."
"All in all, 76.9 billion roubles from the federal budget will be spent on combating unemployment; almost 43 billion roubles have already been transferred to regions."
"Our main task is to prevent massive growth of unemployment in industrially advanced regions and local economy mainstays. We must preserve qualified personnel, and give people an opportunity to train for a new profession or find a temporary source of income."
"An analysis of the dynamics of the unemployment growth shows that the situation is improving, albeit very slowly. In January and February, the weekly growth stood at nine percent. In March andApril, the growth went down considerably and stabilised at 1.6% per week. However, for the time being, this is still a growth. True, in some regions, unemployment has even declined in some regions - Belgorod, Kaluga, Voronezh, and Transbaikal."
"The resettlement of people from dilapidated housing and more active efforts to overhaul other buildings implies the creation of over one million jobs in construction and related industries. This is a major anti-crisis measure in the current conditions aimed at combating unemployment."
"You know that we have seen an increase in unemployment, albeit not as fast as several months ago, but an increase nonetheless. Already 2.2 million people have registered as unemployed. In order to make sure we can fulfil our social duties towards those citizens who have lost their jobs, the Government has decreed that 34 billion roubles will be allocated for this. Up to now we have financed these measures with the money that was earmarked for this earlier, but we are adding an extra 34 billion."
"Irrespective of anything we should do, our utmost aim must be to maintain people's living standards."
"The number one task today is to maintain the work collectives and, where possible, occupy people by retraining with a view to upgrading the technological level of their enterprise. All my meetings with people who have a responsible attitude to their work have demonstrated to me that they are aware of this. Everyone should be encouraged to behave in a socially responsible manner."
“The whole point of our measures to support the labour market, including the allocation of 43.7 billion roubles, is to support specific enterprises that are taking measures to preserve jobs or retrain their workforce for the future. Number one. Number two is the most important thing. Irrespective of anything we should do, our utmost aim must be to maintain people's living standards. We must work together to find the instruments and methods of solving that difficult task in the current conditions.”
“[Trade unions] should immediately respond to any violations of labour legislation, such as failure to honour commitments to employees during lay-offs, deliberate delays in the payment of salaries, leave allowances and other benefits. Regrettably, off-the-books salaries have again become reality. Off-the-books wages not only rob the budget. I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that they violate labour and future pension rights of employees. They don't always pay attention to details, and are happy to receive off-the-books wages, which are even a bit bigger. Usually, nobody thinks of the future, and that is wrong. I think that trade unions should prompt people on such issues.”
“I'd like to add that on a par with increasing unemployment benefit to 4,900 roubles, we have changed the order of declaring people unemployed. Now those who have quit their jobs of their own free will are also entitled to unemployment benefits. This new provision should also strengthen legal guarantees of citizens.”
"To help people who have lost or are about to lose their jobs, we are launching regional employment programmes that are funded by the federal budget by 95%. We believe that regional and local municipal budgets should also contribute to this effort. However, realising that the incomes of the regions will also decline, we have decided to finance these undertakings almost fully. A total of 43.7 billion roubles have been allocated from the federal budget for this purpose."
“We are planning to create about a million temporary jobs. Over 220,000 people will be able to retrain or get help in opening their own businesses.”
“People in different places, including some employment centres, have made it obvious to me that it is not enough to give money to open a business. Companies that lay off employers should help them set up small businesses near big organisations, or municipal authorities should meet them halfway and timely lease space to them, help them connect to utilities, and so on and so forth. We will talk about this, too.”