Дмитрий Крутой. Фото: president.gov.by
Belarus currently hosts 35,000 labour migrants. These are foreign nationals who work in the country without permanent residence permits. The figures were presented today by head of the presidential administration Dzmitry Krutoi as he discussed the five-year social and economic development programme.
“We have record-low unemployment and, broadly speaking, today the market favours the worker rather than the employer. There are roughly 170,000 vacancies in the job bank that are needed right now. Almost all of our enterprises face a serious shortage of personnel. That is why a system for attracting valuable workers from abroad was introduced. Around 35,000 people who do not have permanent residence in Belarus are currently working at our enterprises. This is a small number and it does not solve the problem of labour shortages. But it is very important to maintain a balance here,” he said.
According to him, wage costs today account for 25–30% of total production costs. As a result, wages put pressure on cost price.
“This wage race and the internal competition among our enterprises for specialists, primarily skilled workers, must remain under constant control of the government. We must not fall into any imbalances, because labour productivity is also one of the priorities of the programme,” Krutoi said.
He added that Belarus ranks 67th out of roughly 160 countries in terms of labour productivity. In his view, this indicates that “there is at least a twofold potential for increasing labour productivity.”
“And on this healthy basis we can raise salaries. Today they have reached roughly 2,700–2,800 rubles on average across the country. This is an average figure, but one must look at both regional and sectoral breakdowns — and then seriously address this issue internally,” he said.
The head of the presidential administration also stressed the need to increase the share of non-CIS countries in foreign trade, which is currently around 20–22%. This share should exceed 30%.
“In several areas we see that competition has also intensified significantly. Therefore, the themes of technological sovereignty, new industrial enterprises in small localities, and using these to advance the concept of strong regions are priorities of the social and economic programme,” noted Krutoi.