Translated material
Good riddance
Moscow authorities are developing measures to support the unemployed
In the Russian capital, it seems, they are going to radically divide not only traders in the markets and all working citizens, but also the unemployed into natives and visitors. As RIA Novosti reported yesterday, citing a source in the city administration, by November 1, 2007, the Moscow government will prepare a draft law “On the employment of the population of the city of Moscow,” which will take into account innovations in migration policy. For indigenous residents who find themselves temporarily unemployed, the authorities promise not only preferences when applying for a job, but also payment from the city budget for transportation costs to find a job.“The procedure currently established at the federal level for providing social guarantees and compensation does not fully take into account the socio-economic situation of the population of a metropolis like Moscow,” the news agency quotes a representative of the bill’s developers. - First of all, this concerns the size of unemployment benefits, the conditions and timing of its payments. The existing order can be supplemented with separate specific legal norms that will increase the level of social protection of unemployed citizens of the capital.” In particular, officials want to provide additional financial assistance to the unemployed in the form of subsidies for using public transport in Moscow during the period of job search.
The Moscow City Duma considered the announcement of “undocumented proposals” to be premature, since a norm that has not received either economic or technical justification for implementation will cause a stir among the city’s unemployed. As Mikhail Antontsev, chairman of the commission on social policy and labor relations of the Moscow City Duma, told Vremya Novostey, the city really needs a law that will outline the policy of local authorities regarding the unemployed population, since since January 1 of this year, the functions of regulating employment issues have been transferred from federal to regional level. However, the deputies have not yet taken part in the discussion of the document being prepared. “This benefit costs money,” explained Mr. Antontsev, “but this year’s budget does not provide funds for providing the unemployed with free travel. We are ready to discuss this possibility, but with justifications.”
According to him, the unemployment rate in the capital, where 30-35 thousand people periodically need employment, is 0.5%, while the standards of world megacities remain at the level of 6-8%. And, in fact, we are not talking about people who are permanently looking for work, but about the temporarily unemployed. According to the head of the commission on social policy and labor relations of the Moscow City Duma, their standard of living during this period really needs to reach the subsistence level of the metropolis, but this does not have to be done with the help of transport benefits. “Today, the fork established at the federal level does not allow paying the unemployed benefits less than 720 and more than 2,880 rubles, while the subsistence minimum is 5,789 rubles,” said Mr. Antontsev. “It turns out that the feds are not giving them the opportunity to survive, and the regions are forced to spend their budget.” According to him, the city does not have any extra money, and 300 million rubles should be thrown away. per year (the estimated amount that the idea of free travel for the unemployed would cost) is not suitable for the Moscow treasury. However, a representative of the faction of the party in power in the Moscow City Duma admitted that this idea cannot be ignored, since “its social orientation is obvious.”
The deputies themselves are ready to come up with the initiative to give Muscovites the primary right to employment. “I have repeatedly proposed introducing a system where, when applying for a job, a vacancy will be provided first to a Muscovite, then to a Russian, and then to a migrant,” said Mr. Antontsev. However, as, for example, with the idea of the Moscow government to sell housing in the city mainly to Muscovites, the market dictates its terms. Therefore, legislators admit that there are no effective implementation mechanisms for all their ideas. “It’s difficult to force an employer to follow this rule,” the deputy complains. But, apparently, the city authorities do not intend to retreat from the search for the possibility of implementing their plans. In particular, according to Mr. Antontsev, it is possible to introduce fines for employing a newcomer, bypassing a Muscovite, or incentives for priority hiring of a native resident of the capital, and assign the functions of propaganda and control to trade unions and employer associations.