First Vice Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan Akmadi Sarbassov at the government session chaired by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov today reported on measures to fulfill the instructions announced by the Head of State on Feb. 8.

Thus, according to Sarbassov, over the past ten years, GDP growth was provided by 62% due to the service sector. Labor productivity in this area is much lower than in the manufacturing industry.

“Since 2015, 37% of jobs have been created in low-productivity sectors. Only 8% of jobs are created by high-productivity industries. As a result, today 41% of the employed population are employed in low-productivity and low-income industries. In this regard, the main task is to increase the pace of creation of stable and productive jobs. To do this, local executive bodies must approve regional employment cards with a list of investment projects and the number of jobs created,” he said.

Monitoring of job creation in the ministry is planned to be provided through an information system, with data verification on taxes, pensions and electronic labor contracts. A set of measures to increase incomes will cover all categories of the population. In addition to raising the salaries of certain categories of civil servants and the annual indexation of benefits to inflation, a number of legislative initiatives will be adopted.

In order to develop the skills of the labor force to meet the needs of the economy, a system for recognizing professional qualifications will be formed and certification of employee skills will be introduced.

“For self-employed workers, registration of new forms of labor relations and the introduction of special tax regimes are being considered. In addition, measures will be taken to expand employment by supporting entrepreneurial initiatives and digitalizing the employment infrastructure,” Akmadi Sarbassov informed.