2011 to be year to support employment

The Government decided at its last meeting of the year on December 29 to observe 2011 as the year to support employment. Prime Minister S.Batbold will head a national committee to formulate the work plan and then to monitor its implementation. The committee will include several other members of the Government, the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar, Governors of all 21 aimags, and the heads of the Professional Education and Training Board, the Social Welfare Service, the Mongolian Employers’ Federation and the Confederation of Trade Unions.

MNT70 million from the Government Reserve Fund will finance the programs to be adopted. Related Ministers have been asked to list the laws that need to be amended to help generate employment by restructuring the legal framework for businesses, to reduce the tax burden of small and medium enterprises, to encourage investment in business, to grant soft loans and to reduce tax rates for businesses in the agriculture and animal husbandry sector so that more processing factories can come up in the countryside, generating jobs locally.

The committee will also prepare more Mongolians to seek employment in the mining, mineral resources, energy, road and building construction and urban planning spheres. Courses in universities, institutes and vocational training centers will reflect employers’ needs and demands. Such training centers are also likely to receive tax incentives.

Special programs will be taken up to improve the skills of herders and to protect them from risks so that they do not have to seek employment elsewhere. These will be part of the Mongol Livestock and similar programs and projects. Environment rehabilitation and reclamation programs will be encouraged to generate jobs, especially for citizens with low income.

Along with all this, care will be taken to protect the interests of both employers and employees to ensure harmonious labor relations and to increase productivity as a social partnership. The committee will review progress of the program every three months.