President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev was provided with a report on the main activity results of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population, and on the implementation of the instructions outlined in the recent Presidential State-of-the-Nation Address.
Nursultan Nazarbayev underlined that the Government's main task is to promote the wellbeing of Kazakhstanis.
"The government delivers on all commitments, annually increasing the social financing. For these purposes, it has allocated this year KZT2.6 trillion, which is 21.3 percent more than a year ago," said the President of Kazakhstan. The Head of State emphasized that this year's Address, the key topic of which is to enhance the income and quality of citizens' lives, contains a set of measures to increase the minimum wage.
"Starting January 1, 2019, the wages of low-paid workers, including civilian employees, will rise by 1.5 times. This increase will also affect the administrative, supporting and technical assistance personnel. The wages of 1.3 million low-paid employees in all economic sectors will increase up to 30 percent on average," Nursultan Nazarbayev said
The President of Kazakhstan also said that for all working citizens, it is planned to introduce the single cumulative payment starting 2019. "Since January 1, 2018, we introduced the targeted social assistance for low-income families. This made it possible to provide about 103,000 families, or 534,000 people, with measures of state support within 10 months of this year," said the Head of State.
In addition, Nursultan Nazarbayev reminded the head of the dedicated ministry about the need to increase the number of microloans issued and about the importance of improving the accessibility of loans for people.
"It is necessary to ensure, by the end of this year, the adoption of a law which would provide for a 1.5-fold increase in the minimum wage. The ministry and the akimats (local executive bodies) should take control measures to ensure that employers increase the minimum wages and should conduct the respective awareness-building work. The real wage rise should cover 1.3 million of our citizens," Nursultan Nazarbayev tasked.
The Head of State stressed the need for a 7-percent rise in the age pension payments, as well as a 5-percent increase in the state social allowances for disability and for the loss of a breadwinner starting January 1, 2019.
The meeting participants also discussed the issues of social insurance. Besides, it was highlighted that it is necessary to ensure the increase in the average amount of social payments for the loss of earning capacity, loss of work, or loss of a breadwinner, by an average of 30 percent starting 2020.
In order to create conditions for the self-fulfillment and full integration of citizens with disabilities, the President of Kazakhstan instructed to draft a new National Plan for the safeguards of the rights and for improving the quality of life of people with disabilities.
In the context of the transition to a digital economy and Industry 4.0, the Head of State focused the attention of the meeting on steppping up the requirements for the quality of manpower."It is necessary to make up new approaches to the labor market development so that to create high-quality jobs. 2 million more young specialists are expected to enter the labor market by 2025. It is important to provide our young people with appropriate jobs," said Nursultan Nazarbayev.
At the end of the meeting, the Head of State entrusted the Presidential Administration with assuming control over the execution of the instructions.
Reported by Kazinform.