Authorities to improve product quality by increasing unemployment?

“Many people are relaxed now. The President will pay the wages and we will smoke and drink at work,” Alyaksandr Lukashenka said it during his visit to Keramin on November 12, 2013.

PM Mihail Myasnikovich suddenly commented on it three months later.

“It is not normal when a person known for violating the work discipline can easily get a job at another enterprise,” the PM claimed and suggested… increasing the unemployment rate. “The unemployment rate of 3-4% is normal.”

The official unemployment rate is at 0.5% now – 20.9 thousand people. The quality of products will improve when there is 125 or 165 thousand unemployed in Belarus, Myasnikovich thinks. But how will it happen? Will they forbid employing people fired for violations?

“He just expressed his opinion in an interview with a TV channel,” Myasnikovich’s press secretary Volha Douhaya explained to Euroradio why there would be no law concerning the employment of those who violate the work discipline. “However, they must pay attention to it because it was said by the Prime Minister!”

68.7 thousand people were fired for various reasons in December. 5015 people were fired for absence from work and other violations. It is not that easy to find a job afterwards: only 57.2 thousand people managed to find new jobs. It is hardly possible to get a new job if you were fired for a violation of the work discipline, Belsayuzdruk assured Euroradio.

Personnel office: “If you were fired for missing from work or drinking, it will be hard to find a new job. We are hiring loaders, workers, sales assistants and decorators. It is hardly possible to get a job at Belsayuzdruk if you were fired for missing from work.”

However, Euroradio found out that there were ways out. Our reporter tried getting a house painter’s job at a regional enterprise.

Personnel office: “You should better talk to the boss. We used to hire people regardless of their previous violations. But some of them stared missing from work or hit the bottle. It is not fun looking for them and firing them for violations. However, if it was just an occasion, we may hire you.”

According to the current Labour Code, people only need their service record to get a new job. The President suggested demanding references from previous employers to make it harder for drunkards to get a job. However, employees are already doing it, a Minsk enterprise assured Euroradio.

Personnel office: “When I see a person who worked in many places but only for a few months, I ask why. And I will definitely phone their previous employer.”

It means that the labour market already exists. According to chairperson of the independent trade union REP Henadz Fyadynich, the real unemployment rate in Belarus is not 0.5%:

Henadz Fyadynich: “It is good it is does not exceed 15%.”

The authorities know this number very well, he told Euroradio. Speaking about the unemployment rate increase, they just want to make hidden unemployment more transparent.

Photo: onliner.by