Aliaksandr Yarashuk: Belarusians Forced To Seek Employment Abroad

Over the past four years the number of employees at the enterprises of the country has decreased by 200 thousand.

“And it is a challenge in Belarus’ modern history, which cannot be avoided,” – leader of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions Aliaksandr Yarashuk said to Radio Racyja.

“We are, of course, impressed with the position of the authorities, since it is obvious that the reductions will continue. You probably know that the Eurasian Bank conciders that the labor surplus at our enterprises is around 20%. Reductions are inevitable, since otherwise it is impossible to restore the competitiveness and efficiency of the economy,” – the trade union leader said.

“The Belarusian authorities agree to these reductions, however, they do not solve another problem: do not create preconditions for new jobs, – Aliaksandr Yarashuk believes: – And what are these preconditions? Obviously, this is liberalization of the economy, the development of small and medium-sized businesses – all those measures, which the Belarusian regime do not want to bring into action. We know that they even managed to adopt the employment program for 2016-2020, and it never came into being, as it was classified.”

The only thing that is known is that the program provide for the creation of 50 thousand new jobs every year. “But there is nothing behind it, and it will not happen,” – Aliaksandr Yarashuk said.

According to him, the authorities are pushing people to seek work outside of Belarus.