13 December 2003 17:32
Russia: Dagestani government discusses "complex" unemployment situation
The Dagestani government has held a session to discuss measures to overcome unemployment. The minister of labour and
social security stressed that the situation in the labour market remained rather complex as the overall number of
employed in the republic stood at 780,000, while the number of unemployed was about 220,000, which is 22 per cent of the
republic's employable population and 2.7 times greater than the current index for the Russian Federation. He said
it had proved possible to create over 83,000 jobs by implementing investment projects and federal development programmes
since 1999. In turn, the first deputy prime minister touched on measures to increase the number of jobs, saying that
government agencies should purchase only from Dagestani manufacturers and be more fastidious in regard to investment
programmes requiring budget credits, because some employers are failing to meet their targets for creating jobs. The
following is a text of report by Republic of Dagestan government web site on 12 December headlined "Measures to
create more jobs". Subheading have been inserted editorially:
A meeting of the government of the Republic of Dagestan, attended by the heads of a number of territorial units of
federal ministries and departments, was held on Thursday, 11 December.
Law on fire safety
The first deputy minister for matters of civil defence, emergency situations and natural disasters of the Republic of
Dagestan, Ch. Charakov, spoke on the draft law of the Republic of Dagestan "On fire safety". He said the
reason for adopting this document was the complex situation with regard to fire safety in the republic and the lack of
regulated legal relations in this sphere. The purpose of this draft law, he believes, is to improve the material and
technical situation of fire-fighting units, to create incentives for maintaining and attracting trained personnel, to
regulate relations with the bodies of power and local self-administration, and to solve other urgent issues. It was
decided to approve the draft law and table it for discussion in the National Assembly of the Republic of Dagestan.
Situation in the labour market
The minister of labour and social development of the Republic of Dagestan, I. Efendiyev, delivered a report "On
the situation in the Dagestani labour markets and tasks to safeguard employment". He said that the overall number
of employed in the republic had grown by 83,200 since 1999 and now stood at 780,800. The growth in jobs had been brought
about, among other things, by the implementation of a number of investment projects, as well as republican and federal
socioeconomic development programmes. In 2002, for example, over 4,700 new jobs had been created.
At the same time, with the assistance and cooperation of employment bodies in the republic, in the 2002-2003 period
alone 111,000 unemployed people had been found permanent and temporary posts, including 38,000 in vacancies provided by
employers and 42,500 in paid public work. In addition, in order to increase competition, 6,800 unemployed people had
been given help to find new professions which are in demand by employers.
However, the minister emphasized, the situation in the labour market remained rather complex. For example, the
overall number of people out of work in the republic, based on International Labour Organization calculations, was
around 200-220,000 or about 22 per cent of the economically active population, which is 2.7 times greater than the
current index for the Russian Federation and 1.7 times for the Southern Federal District. And the level of recorded
unemployment in the republic as of 1 December 2003 was 5.9 per cent, against an average 2.1 per cent in the Russian
Federation, and 4.9 per cent average for the Southern Federal District. In the republic's towns and districts it
fluctuates from 0.6 to 18 per cent of the economically active population.
Efendiyev pointed to the demographic increase in the population as being one of the objective reasons for the
intensive nature of the labour markets, and among the subjective reasons were the failure of employers to provide
information about existing vacancies, the failure to take sufficient measures to lease land to the unemployed, the
failure to utilize the potential of industrial enterprises, and also the failure to take sufficient consideration of
those employed in agriculture and the services sector. In view of this he proposed a number of measures aimed at raising
employment and creating 95,000 new jobs in accordance with the republic's socioeconomic development programme for
2004-2008.
The republic's economy minister, M. Ilyasov, and the minister for agriculture and food, U. Nasrutdinov, spoke on
this issue.
Summing up the debates, Dagestan's First Deputy Prime Minister G. Gadzhimagomedov, noted the positive changes
which had occurred in employment in connection with the trend towards an increase in economic indices in the republic.
At the same time, he said there were sufficient reserves for a further increase in the number of jobs besides those
connected with the implementation of federal and republican investment programmes. In particular, he drew attention to
the need for state power and local self-government bodies to purchase only from Dagestani manufacturers and to be more
fastidious in regard to investment programmes requiring budget credits, because some employers are failing to meet their
targets for creating jobs.
Viticulture
The chairman of the Dagestani government committee for viticulture and the alcohol industry, M. Khalalmagomedov,
provided information on the effective use of state finances for the development of the wine-making industry. He said
that as of 10 December 2003, of the R100m which had been set aside for this purpose, some R68.1m had been allocated.
This prompt allocation of funds had enabled highly-effective agricultural chemicals to the sum of R18m to be acquired,
and mineral fertilizers to the sum of R10m, which has made it possible for topdressing of vines to be carried out in
good time and for these crops to be protected from disease and pests. The high-quality and prompt use of agro-technical
and other measures in the vineyards helped produce this year more than 83,000 tonnes of grapes, which was 8,000 tonnes
above the planned figure. Of this amount 61,000 tonnes of grapes were processed, 16,500 tonnes more than last year. This
had, in turn, brought extra revenue to the republican budget.
So far this year vines have been grown on an area of 1,200 hectares, and in 2004 this area is due to be increased by
another 2,000 hectares. It has also been possible to supply the republic with homegrown vine saplings and to reduce
spending on them by half.
Khalalmagomedov also pointed out that the wine-making industry could only develop effectively in the long term by
maintaining major farms, and state funds would, in the main, be used to this end. Corresponding decisions were adopted
on these and other issues.
[Signed] The press centre of the State Council and government of the Republic of Dagestan.
[Respublika Dagestan web site] |
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