Czech Labor Minister’s Take on Georgia’s Employment Dilemma
Michaela Marksova, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic, has recently visited Georgia. Within the framework of her stay, the Czech minister met with her Georgian counterpart and visited a social center for the disabled “Social Therapy House,” a center for children with leukemia at Iashvili Clinic and also a Tserovani IDP settlement.
Georgian Journal was privileged to have an exclusive interview with the minister in order to discuss social and labor problems our country is facing:
– How would you summarize your visit in Georgia?
– I was very happy to meet my Georgian counterpart because we have several common issues, such as an upcoming project: In about one month we, together with Slovakia, Hungary in Georgia will start a joint program which is aimed at improving employment services in Georgia. The project involves the construction of a network of ‘labor offices’ in Georgia, which will help unemployed people find jobs..
– As far as I know, years ago a similar program was implemented in the Czech Republic. How does it work?
– Our network of labor offices is run by our ministry. The unemployed go and register there, and this agency is obliged to either help them find a job or get training and requalification that would allow them to find one. We also provide an income support service to certain groups of people who are unable to find a suitable job, such as mothers, or people over 50, or the disabled.
– Don’t forget that Georgia also has a problem with labor inspection. It runs properly in Czech Republic, but this is not the case here.
– Indeed! I think it represents yet another huge problem for Georgia. We discussed it and the labor code with Georgian MPs. We would like to either send our experts here or invite your experts over in order to get them acquainted with our labor code and the way our labor inspection works. They will be able to see how labor conditions are assessed, how it is determined whether the employer adheres to the labor code and so on. If the employer is judged and found wanting, he is given a fine. I think that such a system is important for any country.
– You have paid visits to some social centers during your stay in Georgia. What would be your recommendations to the Georgian government on improving social conditions for these people?
– It is very hard to give recommendations or advice to the Georgian government because Georgia is in a very difficult situation. I think it is very important for the government to show that the disabled need to be employed, but since we know that they cannot work as much as healthy people, it might be sensible to subsidize those who employ them. Another option would be to simply carry on developing the system of such centers because they should be spread throughout the whole country.
Social services need to be at least partly financed by the government or via public funds. In our country the money for them comes partly from the government, partly from the region and partly from the municipality. You cannot have social services without public money – it simply doesn’t work otherwise.
Author: Mari Javakhishvili
