The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy has set two priorities in the midst of the coronavirus crisis – to protect every job and to provide support for the most vulnerable categories of citizens to make sure they get over the crisis more easily, says Jagoda Shahpaska.
A system has been created that detects at-risk families, especially in times of crisis, the Labor Minister said Friday, adding that access to welfare has been facilitated and that the child benefit scheme has been expanded to cover nearly 16,000 children.
“We were involved in the preparations for the fourth stimulus package, which covered 182,000 pensioners, 84,000 passive job seekers, 8,226 social pension beneficiaries, and 5,570 single parents,” Shahpaska told a news conference Friday marking her first 100 days in office.
According to her, unemployment dropped by 0.6% compared to the same quarter in 2019. At the moment, the unemployment rate stands at 16.5%, Shahpaska said.
Despite the pandemic, the Minister stated, the measures of the operational employment plan are ongoing, including the salary subsidy scheme, the self-employment measure, and Youth Guarantee, which has helped 6,000 people under 29 to find employment.
Since taking office, the anti-discrimination law was adopted in Parliament, but the election of the members of the anti-discrimination commission is yet to be completed.
As regards the protection of rights, Shahpaska said the law on the prevention of violence against women, which is in parliamentary procedure, defines which institutions are in charge of taking preventative measures to protect victims.
“These two laws are considered as crucial in the reform agenda of our EU integration process,” the Minister noted.
At the moment, the Labor Ministry is working on two laws, namely the law on labor relations, which regulates labor issues, including trade unions and the declaration of Sunday as non-working day. The draft of the law on gender equality has been completed, she said.
“In the first 100 days, we showed we can solve the problems of the citizens with hard work and responsible approach. We are only at the beginning of the term, we’ll keep working in the interest of the citizens,” Minister Shahpaska told the news conference.
