At the Government session chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov, the issues of employment of the population were considered. Reports on this topic were made by the Ministers of Labor and Social Protection of Population Tamara Duisenova, National Economy Alibek Kuantyrov, Akims of Kyzylorda region Nurlybek Nalibayev and North Kazakhstan region Kumar Aksakalov.

Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Population Tamara Duisenova reported that if the growth of the labor force in 2016-2020 annually averaged 36.4 thousand people, in 2021 it was 76 thousand, or increased twofold. 

"Regarding their employment, the average increase in the number of employees during this period decreased from 68.8 to 23.5 thousand people due to insufficient job generation in the economy. Accordingly, the decrease in the number of self-employed, observed in previous years, was replaced by their growth by more than 51 thousand people. Such growth is primarily related to the inflow of young people born after the 2000's, which requires taking comprehensive measures to prevent youth unemployment," Duisenova informed.  

As of October 1 of the current year, there were 654 thousand people employed in the economy. Of them 225,5 thousand or 34,5% are jobs created within national projects, 31% or 203,9 thousand jobs created within the instructions of the Head of the state "100 jobs for 10 thousand population" and 224,3 thousand or 34,3% are vacancies provided by the employers.

Today, 67% of the employed workers make 10% of pension contributions or confirmed their jobs. 

First, are the jobs created under the 10 National Projects. 

As of today, the target for job creation on the National Projects, as agreed with the Central Office and the Ministry of Education, is 75.6% fulfilled, or 203,300 jobs were created, taking into account the jobs subsidized by the state. At the same time, a high level of employment was provided by the National Projects for the development of entrepreneurship, "Strong regions - the driver of the country's development" and for the development of the agro-industrial complex. These three projects account for 92% of all jobs created in the projects. For other projects, the number of jobs created ranges from 492 jobs to a maximum of 6,200. 

"The proportion of permanent jobs created in the regions as part of National Projects was 55%, of which 46% were confirmed by Mandatory Pension Contributions. In this case, the lowest rates of creation of permanent jobs are observed in the following 3 regions: 39% in Kostanay region, 37% in Aktobe region and 33% in Akmola region. As a positive example I will note the work of Kyzylorda region. 88% of jobs created in the oblast are permanent and 84% of them are confirmed by pension contributions," Duisenova said.  

Another direction of the National Projects is the promotion of youth employment through the creation of subsidized jobs. 

Today, the targets have been fulfilled, more than 152,000 people have been sent to them, and 41% of them are young people. The result of this measure should be the acquisition of skills with further permanent employment. However, as of the reporting date, most regions have not provided permanent employment for persons who have completed the program.  

In the republic, this indicator was 34.8%. The highest rates are in Akmola, Zhambyl, Kyzylorda and Almaty regions. 

The lowest indicators are in Shymkent city - 8.9%, in Turkestan region 13.5%, in Pavlodar region 25.1%. The same picture is for youth employment. Here these same three regions are outsiders.

According to the Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Population, today all National Projects are digitized, respectively, on the Electronic exchange of labor are monitored not only created jobs and pension deductions, but also according to the norms of the Labor Code, registration of concluded labor contracts. For today it is 112,6 thousand electronic contracts. In this case, about a quarter of them were concluded for up to 12 months. 

One more advantage of Electronic Exchange was the possibility to monitor the mobility of labor resources. Just in the last 3 months more than 4 thousand out of 28,3 thousand vacancies, declared in the national projects, were filled by interregional overflow.

The leaders in attracting labor resources from other regions of the country were Almaty and Karaganda region. In general, 58% of the inter-regional overflow accounted for these areas.

"Today the level of filling of vacancies posted on the Electronic Labor Exchange is 87%. That is to say, the Electronic Labor Exchange is becoming an effective tool, which should be actively used by local executive bodies in solving the issues of employment," Duisenova said.  

The next measure to promote employment is the instruction of the President of the country to create 100 jobs for 10 thousand people living in towns and districts. Almost all regions exceeded the plan of creation of workplaces, except for North Kazakhstan region (84%) and Pavlodar region (99%).

However, according to the State Revenue Committee, there is an uneven execution of the order at the oblast level. So, in North Kazakhstan region, 11 out of 14 regions were below 60% of the plan to create jobs, in Magzhan Zhumabaev region the plan was fulfilled only by 22%. In Pavlodar region of 13, in 7 of them the plan was not fulfilled. 

Another measure to expand employment is the Program of resettlement from the labor surplus to the labor deficient regions. 

According to Duisenova, for today the planned indicator on resettlement is fulfilled by 71%. Instead, with the onset of winter cold the resettlement of southern regions residents will not be active, respectively, the risks of failure to meet the quota are high. Today the quota is not fulfilled by more than 1 thousand people in the Pavlodar region, 500 people in North Kazakhstan region, and 362 people in Kostanay region.

In addition, there is a low level of employment of arriving able-bodied family members. For three regions: Akmola, North Kazakhstan region and Pavlodar region the share of those employed ranges from 58.5% to 67%. At the same time, only 54.4% of those employed have pension contributions. 

It is planned to revise the resettlement program. Thus, citizens will be relocated to regions where jobs are primarily available. 

In fulfillment of the instructions of the Head of State, voiced in the Address to the Nation, in terms of youth employment and resolution of the above-mentioned tasks for the next three-year period, it is planned:

First. It is planned to provide proactive employment services using the Digital Family Map. It will be implemented from January 1, 2023. 

In addition, on the basis of the Electronic Labor Exchange it is planned to conduct quarterly online job fairs, install the Electronic Labor Exchange in functioning career centers of universities and colleges and launch the mobile application Electronic Labor Exchange by the end of the year. Thus, the Electronic Labor Exchange should become a meeting place for employers and job seekers. 

Second. It is planned to reach at least 100 thousand young people annually with state support measures for training, employment, and starting their own business. Indicators have been worked out with the relevant authorized bodies and communicated to the regions. The draft budget for 2023-2025 provides for more than 534 billion tenge for the implementation of these measures.

Third. It is proposed that 10 per cent of the total number of jobs created under the national projects will be filled by young people. This would provide jobs for 50,000 young people. 

Fourth. Similarly, it is planned to open at least 10 thousand jobs for the youth within the framework of the initiative "100 jobs for 10 thousand people". All these indicators will be submitted to the regions by November 1 this year.

The Minister of National Economy Alibek Kuantyrov also informed that the dynamics of SME development in Kazakhstan for the period from 2012 to 2021 shows positive results. 

According to the minister, the share of SMEs in GDP grew by 17% and reached 33.5%. Production of SMEs increased by almost 5 times and reached 42.8 trillion tenge in nominal terms. 

Gross Domestic Product increased by more than 2.5 times and in 2021 amounted to 82.2 trillion tenge. The total number of active SMEs increased by 75% and reached 1.4 million entities. The total number of people employed in SMEs grew by 45% and reached 3.5 million people. 

"While in 2012 SME loans in the country's total loan portfolio were about 15% or 1.5 trillion tg, in 2021 SME lending increased significantly to more than 5.7 trillion tg or 27%," the Minister of National Economy said during the report.

Also, while the share of concessional lending in 2012 was about 500 billion tg or 33.5% of the amount of SME loans, the financial support in 2021 was increased to 2.2 trillion tg, accounting for about 39% of the total SME concessional lending.

"Over the past 10 years, the output of recipients of state support measures amounted to 53 trillion tg, accounting for 23% of the total output of SMEs. Today the recipients of state support measures within the National Project on Entrepreneurship Development provide jobs about 118 thousand people or 3.4% of those employed in SMEs," Alibek Kuantyrov added.

At the same time, the head of the agency said that in order to stimulate employment under the National Project implemented the following financial and non-financial support measures:

• provision of subsidies and loan guarantees;
• providing grants for the implementation of new business ideas;
• Provision of infrastructure;
• provision of information and consulting services for SMEs. 

Indicators for jobs are as follows:

• 137,000 jobs were saved and 12,000 new jobs were created in 2021;
• 11,000 new jobs created during the first 9 months of 2022.

Akim of Kyzylorda region Nurlybek Nalibayev also made a report.

In accordance with the instruction of the Head of the State in the region an important direction to increase incomes of the population is planned, noted the head of the region.

On this basis it is planned to create more than 30 thousand new workplaces by the end of the year. As a result of the measures taken in all sectors of the region 21.8 thousand new jobs were created. Within the framework of national projects 3,2 thousand persons were employed, from them pension deductions made 84 %.

According to words of regional akim, 41,2 thousand people took part in "National project on entrepreneurship development". Among them 9 159 people were employed on vacant positions, 12,9 thousand people were give subsidized jobs. 2,280 people received non-repayable grants and opened their own business.

As Nalibayev, the akim of the region noted, according to the assignment of the President to create 100 workplaces for 10 thousand people, this year in the region it is planned to create 4 587 workplaces.

"Following the results of 9 months 5 691 workplaces are created, the indicator is executed on 124,1 %. According to the task to employ 100 thousand young people, next year our region plans to employ about 6 thousand young people. As a result, the level of youth unemployment will decrease to 3.9%," Nurlybek Nalibayev said.

At the same time, Nalibayev noted that the region also undertakes specific measures to increase incomes of the population.

Currently, the average per capita nominal income of the population of the region increased by 26.4%. The share of the population receiving incomes below the subsistence minimum decreased from 4.9% to 4.8%, increasing by 11.7%. The unemployment rate stabilized at 4.9%, the youth unemployment rate was 4%.

The head of region also reported on the conclusion of memorandums with 52 large and medium-sized enterprises of the region on creation of new jobs, employment, prevention of layoffs and increasing wages to 50%.

Key indicators in measures to ensure employment, creation of new jobs in the region are achieved through the support of the Government, said the akim.

"By the end of the year in the national projects, the "map of regional employment" will be fully implemented the planned indicators for 2023-2025. Measures to ensure employment and increase incomes of the population are under the direct control of the akimat of the region," Nurlybek Nalibayev summarized.

According to Kumar Aksakalov, Head of North Kazakhstan Region, the region continues to work to ensure employment of the population. This year it is planned to create 10,6 thousand new working places. For today 9,4 thousand workplaces or 89 % were created. 

According to the words of the Regional Akim, 3 181 workplaces will be created according to the indicator "100 workplaces for 10 thousand people". For today 2 669 workplaces were created at the expense of opening of 1 727 new enterprises. 

"In 2022, 13 investment projects for 44 billion tg are being implemented with the creation of 1,300 new jobs, of which 7 have already been introduced. 655 jobs have been created. The remaining 6 projects will be launched by the end of the year. Such projects as paper products factory RIM-KazAgro LLP, autoclave gas blocks production plants Mix Universal LLP and deep processing of dairy products Tesis LLP, broiler poultry farm Zhana Kus LLP and others," Aksakalov said.

In addition, according to the head of the region, the construction of 17 dairy farms, of which 8 will be introduced by the end of the year. Also 4 billion tenge for credit and grant support of rural population through Damu Fund and Agrarian and Credit Corporation is foreseen. 

So, 1,5 thousand new working places will be created, 500 out of them will be in 11 districts with the index less than 60%. By the end of the year the akimat will bring the performance of the indicator to 100%. 

"In the framework of the National Projects in the region 142 projects are being implemented. As of today 1 755 people were employed of which 504 workers were formalized by employers through electronic labor exchange. As a result 2 408 jobs will be created. Mandatory pension deductions are available for all employees. In general, the indicator on employment will be performed at 100%," Kumar Aksakalov, Akim of North-Kazakhstan region, summarized.