Unemployment has grown by 1.5 times in Bashkiria since COVID-19 pandemic

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Bashkiria's unemployment has grown by one and a half times; Prime Minister of the Republican government Andrei Nazarov posted on his social media and noted that the figure could have been higher.

The peak of unemployment in the region fell on September 2020 - more than 129 thousand "official" unemployed. At the beginning of this year, there were over 105 thousand unemployed registered with the employment service. By February 23, there were even fewer of them - more than 90 thousand people.

As Andrei Nazarov emphasized, it was possible to save jobs in the region due to timely measures taken to support the economy.

"This allowed us to reduce unemployment in the IV quarter of 2020 by 12 percent. We intend to restore employment to pre-pandemic levels during this year fully", the Prime Minister of the Government of Bashkiria said and noted that one of the main problems in the region remained the imbalance between the real needs of the economy and the available supply in the labor market.

Therefore, it was decided to modify the structure of relations between the authorities and employers. At the first stage, sectoral working groups were created. They included executive authorities, businesses, and heads of educational institutions. Thanks to the dialogue, colleges were able to conclude more than 450 contracts with large employers and corporations to train personnel for them".

Among such enterprises are Bashneft, Bashneftegeofizika and Stankostroenie.

Meanwhile, new investors continue to come to Bashkiria. Consequently, it is planned to create new specialties in the republican colleges, especially for them.

Thus, in the Ishimbay and Sterlitamak regions, it is planned to build enterprises in petrochemistry, instrument-making microelectronics, and the food industry.

"In this regard, these 11 local colleges will train students taking into account the new needs of the market," Nazarov added.

Besides, more than 20 multidisciplinary educational institutions have already been created in the region. They will teach the demanded specialties in IT technology, healthcare, construction, and the service sector, oil refining, and transport. The number of budget-funded places in these programs has already been increased.

Small and medium-sized entrepreneurs play an important role in employing the population. We continue to subsidize them the costs of starting a business, buying equipment, paying and renting utilities, developing a family business, developing digital applications, and so on, Andrei Nazarov marked.

Among the new measures - support for those employers who will find jobs for single and large parents, pre-retirees, as well as "some other socially vulnerable groups."

A Center for Innovative Career Design for the Disabled will appear as a pilot project in Bashkiria.

"We will launch vocational guidance courses, and we will proceed from the real requests of employers", the Prime Minister of the republican Government said.

In particular, internships at enterprises are organized at the expense of the republic. In general, in 2020, more than 300 people with disabilities were employed in the region.