A person who has a permanent job and a stable source of income will look at life differently. He will be satisfied from the present day and the future. Especially for our people who have families and children, having a job is not only a means of making a living a comfortable life, but it is also a significant factor in raising children and investing in their future, bringing hope and stability to our households.
According to official statistics, there were 1,300,000 unemployed people in Uzbekistan at the beginning of this year. It is predicted that 2,400,000 people will enter the labor market by the end of the year.
It’s important to note that the labor market in Uzbekistan is evolving. New, more progressive approaches to labor relations are emerging. The number of employers is on the rise, and individuals are also gaining the status of employers. This shift is not just a change, but a positive transformation that promises to reduce poverty and enhance the quality of life for our population.
One of the main ideas of the People’s Democratic Party is the social protection of the population. After all, the unemployed are also a group in need of social security. Therefore, the party’s election program pays special attention to this issue.
In particular, in the party’s opinion, providing the population with stable jobs that pay higher wages than social benefits and encouraging the personal initiatives and perseverance of non-disabled citizens is an issue that cannot be postponed. Choosing a profession for young people, getting free and quality education, and strengthening the guarantee of employment after graduating from educational institutions play an essential role in ensuring the interests of this group, which is considered a decisive force according to social and demographic characteristics.
“We are supporters of every person working under decent conditions!”
This slogan expresses the party’s goals of ensuring the employment of the population. The party intended to achieve strict compliance with the quotas set by the legislation to ensure the employment of persons with disabilities, using democratic influence.
The party also strives to increase legal guarantees on employment for women who have difficulties finding employment, graduates of “Mehribonlik Houses,” and other groups needing social protection. It strictly adheres to the “Equal work – equal pay” principle.
For this purpose, the party plans to prepare proposals to supplement the Labor Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan with relevant norms and procedural mechanisms and to introduce them as a legislative initiative through its faction in the parliament.
The party tries to develop new effective forms of organizing domestic labor. In particular, it plans to determine the needs of housework for women who are engaged in raising children of preschool age without a job, increase their participation in relevant forms of public-private partnership, and consider proposals developed in the Councils of People’s Deputies.
The party believes that the legislative mechanisms for material and moral stimulation of such employees should be further improved to attract educated and experienced specialists to schools, primary medical institutions, and other social sphere objects in remote rural areas.
Boymurod YUSUPOV, Department Head at the Central Council of the PDPU:
– The party’s practical program of action for 2024 defines the urgent tasks of ensuring the employment of the population and the employment of vocational college graduates. In the past year, 121 issues were discussed in party groups, 109 in standing commissions, and 96 in sessions.
How did we learn the problems? First, we reviewed the appeals and analyzed the issues raised in the meetings with the voters. We studied the actual environment in needy, low-income families, which are the party’s electorate, and we did not ignore any issue hindering the employment of such families’ representatives. All efforts and opportunities were mobilized to solve the problems, and we brought the relevant proposals to the discussion of permanent commissions and sessions.
We have developed tasks related to ensuring the population’s employment based on the regions’ socio-economic situation. For example, if homesteading is needed in some areas, there is a vast opportunity to develop small-scale farming in others. Some mahallas need a barbershop.
We studied the issue of vocational training for young people in each region and talked with young men and women who wanted to start businesses. We closely helped them get a loan and open their workshop or barbershop. We have a lot of such practical work.
True, shortcomings were allowed in some cases. However, no regions have been lax in performing the assigned tasks. Measures to protect the electorate’s interests by paying particular attention to such regions, polling deputies, and monitoring institutions are carried out consistently.
Urol UROZBOYEV, Member of the PDPU faction in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis:
– The main goal of our country’s socio-economic policy is to increase jobs and reduce poverty. I would like to mention that our party is one of the active initiators in this process.
On April 24-27 this year, we studied the implementation of the Law “On Employment of the Population” in Bukhara region, as well as the implementation of programs on the creation of new jobs and assistance to the employment of the population in 2024 in the order of control and analysis. The studies were conducted competently in the city of Kogon, as well as Kogon, Peshku and Shafirkon districts of Bukhara region.
As of January 1, 2024, the economically active population of Bukhara region was 858,832 people, of which the total employed population was 829,489 people. It was revealed that 70.3% of the employed work in the formal sector of the economy, 21.5% in the informal sector, and 8.1% of those who went abroad. The unemployment rate in the region is 3.4 percent.
In January-April this year, 587 citizens were provided with the necessary equipment and tools for self-employment due to the allocation of 2 billion 964 million UZS of subsidy funds based on the recommendations of the hokim’s assistants.
Today, qualified masters and teachers teach 1,542 unemployed people in the monocenter “Ishga Marhamat” in Bukhara, 233 unemployed people at Jondor Vocational Training Center, 220 people at Romitan Vocational Training Center, and 550 unemployed people at Qorakul Vocational Training Center.
As of April 25, 2024, 14,100 hectares of land had been leased to 60,100 residents. In other words, the average amount of land for the applicants who said they would earn a living by farming was 23 hectares.
The ongoing work on increasing household incomes by ensuring the employment of the population, improving the efficiency of the work of the hokim’s assistants, and implementing the tasks set in the program was regularly discussed by the local councils and permanent commissions of people’s deputies.
During the monitoring and analysis activities, we also studied the existing problems in ensuring the employment of the population and gave relevant recommendations to the authorities to eliminate them.
In general, I think such monitoring and analysis activities are essential not only for studying the actual situation in the regions, but also for developing constructive proposals for the legal solution of current issues affecting the interests of the electorate, and for creating a comprehensive position of the faction.
Dilbar MAMADJANOVA, Member of the PDPU faction in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis:
– With the joint decision of the Legislative Chamber and the Senate of the Oliy Majlis, the action plan for increasing the effectiveness of the parliamentary control over the work being carried out to ensure the employment of the population in the regions was approved. In accordance with this, the state of approval and implementation of programs to ensure the employment of the population in 2023 were studied.
The results are being discussed at the sessions of the Jokargy Kenes of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, Regional and Tashkent City Councils of People’s Deputies.
Important issues such as employment, new jobs, and a stable source of income should always be at the forefront of our party faction’s agenda. This is because these issues are directly related to the interests of our party’s electorate.
If we look at our activities in this regard, in the first half of this year, 1 draft law was developed by the members of the faction, and it was introduced and adopted by the Legislative Chamber based on the right of legislative initiative.
In the development of this draft law, it was emphasized that further strengthening the protection of labor rights of citizens, strengthening the legal basis of reforms in the social sphere, and taking into account the opinions and suggestions of voters were also emphasized.
Also, at the faction meeting held on April 25 this year, the information of the Deputy Minister of Transport of the Republic of Uzbekistan J. Choriyev on the work being carried out to ensure comfortable and safe conditions for citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan to arrive in foreign countries for temporary work, was heard. On May 21, the Minister of Poverty Reduction and Employment B. Musayev was sent a parliamentary request “On the implementation of the system of safe, orderly and legal labor migration and the ongoing work on the reintegration of persons returning from labor migration”.
Now, our faction is preparing for the parliamentary hearing on ensuring the employment of the population. We are visiting places and carrying out control and analysis work. We are studying and analyzing one by one the appeals received from temporarily unemployed citizens in meetings with voters. Based on this, we plan to present several questions and suggestions to the ministry.
Akmal UMARALIYEV, Chairman of the Tashkent Regional Council of the PDPU:
– Deputy control was established in connection with the implementation of the tasks in our party’s election program and the study of the state of ensuring the employment of the population based on the work plan of the Regional Party Council for 2024.
In 2023, the Tashkent Regional Council of People’s Deputies formed and approved the target indicators for employing 480,000 residents with income-generating work in the region.
During the control and analysis process, it became known that last year, based on the state of the labor market, there were 4 “Ishga Marhamat” monocenters in the region for the organization of vocational, foreign language and entrepreneurial skills training (Bekabad city, Bekabad district, Piskent district, Qibray district), 11 thousand 324 unemployed citizens were covered in vocational training centers and non-state training centers in total of 28 professions.
Another important issue. Last year, we also studied ensuring the employment of persons with disabilities through parliamentary supervision. It became known that 1,195 persons with limited opportunities and disabilities have been employed. Subsidies were allocated to employers for hiring 83 persons with disabilities by 46 business entities. 372 of our compatriots with disabilities were trained in professions.
It is noteworthy that such systematic and effective measures are consistently being continued in our region this year. We have developed proposals with our deputies to increase the number of jobs that do not require high skills in the state and non-state sectors, in particular, to further encourage self-employment. We are planning to bring our proposals to the session discussion soon.
Inoyatkhon HOSHIMOVA, Deputy Chairperson of Andijan Regional Council of PDPU:
– Our proposals and initiatives aimed at further developing the economy of districts and cities and improving the population’s living conditions focus not only on increasing jobs, but also on gradually improving income and working conditions.
We held a public hearing of the Deputy Group of Andijan Regional Council of the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan in May this year.
First, we heard the report of A. Nurmatov, the head of the regional poverty reduction and employment department, about the study’s results on creating new jobs and providing employment for the population in Andijan region.
Based on the report, we made our suggestions. For example, we submitted a proposal to the Regional Hokimiyat to introduce the practice of selling products developed by vocational training institutions to the market. Our proposals on providing incentives for seasonal jobs created in cocooning, continuous delivery of information about persons who have returned from labor migration to assistant hokims through the regional IAD (information-electronic database of persons who have left for an extended period) based on address lists, integration of the electronic platform “Online Mahalla” with the “Labormigration” software complex of the Foreign Labor Migration Agency are also crucial in terms of content.
Also, the party group decided to form a working group consisting of deputies, party activists, and representatives of the regional poverty reduction and employment department. On May 10-24, this group studied the issue of providing employment and creating new jobs in the city of Andijan, Oltinkul, Asaka, and Ulugnor districts.
In Andijan region, 531,685 people were actually employed, while 470,341 unemployed people were planned to be employed in all areas within the framework of the 2023 program. In other words, the plan did not become empty words but was successfully implemented in practice.
This year, it is planned to employ 293,838 unemployed people in all directions with income-generating work. In connection with the program’s implementation, 33,100 unemployed people will be employed in investment, 108,500 people in services, 145,300 people in agriculture, and 6,800 people in construction. They are entered into the “yangi ish.mehnat.uz” electronic platform, and at the end of each month, their authenticity is investigated by the Tax Committee.
Recently, with the participation of our deputies, we also made a plan to study the implementation of the employment programs set for this year. We will carry out control and analysis work on the timely opening of the planned workplaces in the program.
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We listened to the opinions. The practice of visiting places and studying the issues related to the party’s program goals together with deputies of local councils is expanding. The results weigh accordingly. However, deputies and party organizations approach this issue with sluggishness. Local councils should strengthen their analytical activities on the issue of employing the population, present their positions and suggestions to the discussion of permanent commissions and sessions, and boldly defend them.
In any case, the election is close. Is it necessary to go to the polls and the voters with a bright face?!
Laziza SHEROVA,
“O‘zbekiston Ovozi” (“Voice of Uzbekistan”) Correspondent.
«O‘zbekiston Ovozi», 10.07.2023, No.27