Belarusian guest workers from Russia to get placement at home in May

A lot of our compatriots who used to work as builders in Russia have been fired because of the crisis. They will be welcomed at Belarusian enterprises in May. According to official information, the level of unemployment has decreased. Belarusian construction enterprises are the only ones to have experienced the return of guest workers yet. The head of the personnel department of Minsk construction “Mapid” ltd. Alyaksandr Adzyaryha says that their line has been busy since the beginning of the year. They have never seen such a big number of people eager to work before. However, Mr. Adzyaryha says that it will not be possible to give them placement before May.

Alyaksandr Adzyaryha: My line is always busy because Belarusians are coming home from Russia. The number of people eager to get placement is bigger than it was within the previous two years. However, our staff is complete.

On the other hand, half of those who have returned do not have any documents proving their profession. Those who went to Russia knew of the risk. They knew they would have to do any job. We have vacancies now and we can hire people having no education certificates – their job will be municipal improvements. However, we will be able to do it in May.

People fired in Russia have started applying for vacancies in Orsha building trust #8. The majority of them are carpenters and bricklayers sacked from jobs in Russia, says an employee of the trust.

Building trust #8:  Have we noticed the increasing number of the unemployed? Of course we have! About 20 people came to us last week. The majority of them are carpenters and bricklayers. People are arriving because Russia needs only high-qualified people as the construction is not that large-scale as it used to be.

Russian banks have stopped crediting immovable property and the construction industry is going to lack money to pay wages to all builders. It means that the number of unemployed workers will keep increasing. Ryhor Kostuseu, a former guest worker from Saint Petersburg, has described the current situation in Mahileu Region.

Ryhor Kostuseu: I know several people who have returned from Moscow jobless before the New Year’s Day. Many Russian construction companies have already started firing guest workers including Belarusians. Russian banks are not crediting construction neither for citizens nor for construction companies. The scale of construction will keep getting smaller. And people will continue coming home jobless.

Some gastarbeiters from Hantsavichy are already looking for jobs in Minsk and some of them are simply spending their wages on drink, informs our reporter Ivan Yurashchyk.

Іvan Yurashchyk: Those who have returned from Moscow to Hantsavichy District are looking for casual placement in the capital – they work for two or three days and then spend a week without a job. There are people drinking away the money they made in summer. According to the Ministry of Labour, the number of unemployed is only about 2.2% in Hantsavichy District (the republican unemployment rate leader) and it was 3% at the beginning of the last year. In fact, this number is dozens of times bigger.

Interestingly, builders are not trying to look for jobs with the help of newspapers. The number of advertisements from builders has not increased and everyone has a chance to print one in the newt issue. The editorial staff of “By hand” has informed ERB about it.

"By hand": The number of advertisements has not changed. Those who would like to publish one in the next issue can do it without any queue.

Employment centres or the so-called labour-exchange have not registered any inrush of builders or other workers. The unemployment rate has decreased and everything is happening according to the plan. There is no rush, informs Luninets labour exchange.

Labour exchange: The unemployment rate has decreased. The number of jobless people is getting smaller and smaller. There were only 392 jobless people in Luninets District as of January 1, 2009. Just think about it! The number was 486 on January 1, 2008. There is no rush. Everything is quiet and is happening according to the plan.  Enterprises have created more vacancies than they had planned to.

It is not clear what Belarusian gastarbeiters are going to do till May while Belarusian enterprises lack workers.