Young People Employment: Priority for Moscow Employment Service

One of the priorities of the Moscow Employment Service has always been young people employment. Taking into account the complicated situation the country is facing during the crisis period the Moscow Labour and Employment Department takes some preventive measures aimed at stabilization of the labour market; help in employment for young people studying at and graduating from Moscow universities is also panned.

In the whole the situation on Moscow labour market can be referred to as stable. According to the data provided by the Moscow Department for Family and Youth Policy, 9,000 graduates needed employment assistance. At the beginning of the year 2009 the annual Plan of High-Priority Measures for Employment of Graduates of Moscow Universities was developed. In accordance with the analysis of the city job bank, that at present is estimated to have about 200,000 vacancies, some 8,900 working places were offered in the following fields:

• building (architect, top specialist, engineer, foreman, site supervisor, manager, mechanic, on-site foreman) — over 1,400 vacancies;
• education (kindergartner, teacher, psychologist, hobby group teacher, specialist, coach) — over 1,000 vacancies;
• housing maintenance and utilities and urban amenities (engineer, foreman, mechanic, technologist, site foreman) — about 200 vacancies;
• health care and social protection (doctor, specialist, chemist, pharmacist, social worker) — about 1,900 vacancies;
• wholesale and retail business (manager, accountant, economist, merchandise specialist) — about 1,500 vacancies;
• science and scientific research, as well as technical professions (junior research scientist, research scientist, engineer, designer, programmer, manager, mechanic, specialist, technologist) — over 2,900 vacancies.

Apart from this the Moscow Mayor has decided to start offering additional job places that are available at the city executive authority bodies and their subordinate structures; these places are already being taken by university graduates. Two thirds of these vacant places are offered by the Moscow Health Care Department and Moscow Social Protection Department.

Employment of graduates of elementary and intermediate vocational education institutions is undertaken by the Labour and Employment Department, as well as by other organizations, for example, by the Moscow Educational Department. With its assistance educational institutions enter into an agreement with organizations that are ready to offer working places to graduates in accordance with their qualifications.

Moreover the Moscow Government is financing a new probation programme by Federal budget means provided under the Russian Government Anti-Crisis Programme 2009. Now the first three months of a graduate’s work can be considered as a probation period if there is an agreement between the company and the employment center of the administrative district. In such cases the employer’s salary expenses are partially reimbursed by the State so that the company experiences less financial pressure.

Career fairs play a special role in young people employment assistance. During the first half of the year 2009 three specialized events for graduates took place and were visited by 4,000 people. Till December 2009 the Moscow Labour and Employment Department plans to mount ten more career fairs for the youth. The aim is to offer to each 2009 graduate minimum one working place according to his/her qualifications and skills.

At present the Labour and Employment Department reforms the integral young specialist employment system. At the beginning of the 1990s the system of graduates’ distribution according to the qualification ceased to exist. Young specialists had to look for a job on their own and with the help of university employment services, staff agencies, relatives, friends, and so on. However, there was no unified approach to the employment of this population category. Today we have to acknowledge that graduates of many universities and colleges have problems with finding a job; there is excess of some professions and a noticeable shortage of other professions that are required by the city.

Close study of specialist training and distribution technology led the Labour and Employment Department to the conclusion that there was a necessity to develop a combined approach to the problem. One of the main criteria for licensing educational institutions and granting them permit to teach will be the possibility of their graduates’ employment; a young person who was educated at the State’s expense shall have the chance to put his/her knowledge into practice. According to these requirements the city legislation and law on quota arrangement of working places have been amended; employment programme 2010 has been developed.