We need a working class

Recently, the streets of Kyiv and other big cities displayed billboards depicting the “Cede right of way” road sign with its telltale red-rimmed triangle and the image of a black hand inside. The captions read: “This country lacks workers.”

This social advertising was requested by Ukraine’s Ministry of Social Policies and the State Employment Center because of the current situation on our labor market. The aim of this public appeal and a series of special schoolroom classes entitled “Lessons from Real Working Life,” which are taught by human resources experts, is to familiarize children and adults with the situation on today’s labor market. Experts have long been saying that Ukraine is saturated with lawyers and economists, but there is nobody to work in factories, on construction sites, and on farms. There are fears that this imbalance is even putting Ukraine’s national security at risk because there is nobody to improve the economy.

What has caused the shortage of workers in Ukraine, and what is being done to change the situation? This is the subject of the following interview with Volodymyr HALYTSKY, director of the State Employment Center of Ukraine.

The Public Board of Tea­chers and Scientists declared re­cently that 400 vocational schools have been closed in Ukraine during the years of independence. Are these statistics accurate, and how does the reduction in the number of specialized workers affect the country’s economy?

“Only the Ministry of Edu­ca­tion and Science can clearly say to what extent the data on the exact number of vocational schools is correct. But there are real and ample grounds for reaching such conclusions. Now that the generation of specialists who grew up during the technological breakthrough in space exploration is no longer active and the prestige of engineering and factory-working professions is at its lowest, fewer people are applying for technological specialties at all types of educational institutions.

The number of engineers does not reach even a fifth of the overall number of higher education graduates, and the number of vocational school pupils is six times smaller than college and university students. But the shortage of factory workers is the result of years-long destructive processes.

“In the early 1990s, after the breakup of the Soviet Union and on the crest of the general euphoria, no one was worried that the collapse of Soviet dogmas and practices would also destroy (in the literal sense) gigantic plants and entire industries, while mass lockouts would revive the ‘bourgeois’ word ‘unemployment,’ and that the ideology of collective works would also be destroyed. It was not until approximately 1997 that our businesses began to revive.

“Today, employers are ready to pay more than 1,000 dollars a month to highly-skilled welders or milling-machine operators. The trouble is that you won’t find them. The shortage of factory workers today is slowing down the sustained development of Ukraine’s economy.”

Is the personnel shortage such a big problem? In what industries?

“The main problem on today’s labor market is the shortage of a skilled workforce – practically in all sectors of the economy. In the first eight months of this year 204,100 employers contacted the state employment service to fill as many as 1,556,000 vacancies. Most in demand are workers in civil construction, the retail trade, people that fix cars, home appliances, and small domestic items, and in the processing industry. There is also a quantitative and qualitative imbalance between the demand for and the supply of workers.

“The growth of industrial output significantly raises the importance of staffing all sectors of the economy. A considerable number of businesses all over Ukraine need highly-skilled workers, such as turners, milling-machine operators, multi-role machinists, blacksmiths, tool fitters, electric and gas welders, etc. We lack mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, product engineers, and skilled shipbuilding workers. Also in great demand are all kinds of construction specialties. We need skilled programmers and designers, as well as doctors, rural teachers, drivers, seamstresses-even salespeople.

“At the same time, a large number of graduates are not in a position to apply their knowledge and skills on the labor market. The labor market is saturated with brand-new lawyers, economists, managers, and accountants. These kinds of specialists are also needed in a market economy, but they should always possess high skills and have some work experience.”

What can the lack of workers lead to?

“The huge deficit of workers poses a threat to the country’s innovative development. This is a problem for Ukraine’s national security. Economic migration against the backdrop of demographic collapse is a related problem. At the most conservative estimate, our population will be 30 million in 10 years. Who will work and propel the economy? Low wages kill people’s desire to study, develop, and create. This applies to society on the whole, not just an isolated group. We have three years at our disposal. If we don’t improve anything within this period, we will lose our working and genetic potential.”

How many trained factory workers does the state need right now?

“Today, Ukraine’s educational system trains 70 percent of specialists with a higher education and 30 percent with a secondary technical education, i.e., factory workers, while the economy requires just the opposite.”

How can young people be persuaded to take up working-class professions?

“The government of Ukraine must draft a well-balanced professional orientation program to raise the prestige of working-class professions. This program should be dealt with by at least five ministries under the guidance of a vice-prime minister: the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, the State Employment Service, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of the Economy, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Industry. There is no program like this at the moment, and no one knows when there will be one. There are only some enthusiasts at the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies and the State Employment Service. Nor is there any government information policy that would form a correct opinion about the life of workers. Workers are no longer heroes of books, films, or plays. Moreover, the working man/woman conjures up not-so-pleasant pictures of ‘developed’ socialism and the Soviet way of life.

“We see a way out of this situation primarily in extensive professional orientation work among schoolchildren, beginning from the fifth grade. And counseling should be offered to both pupils and their parents, because children usually choose a profession under the influence of their parents and close relatives.

“We must explain to children that they should work in order to earn a living rather than live off gratuities and that working in a factory will allow them feel important in society. But society should also be prepared to acknowledge that young people are capable of doing qualitatively new work. What helps schoolchildren orient themselves to the professions that are in demand on the labor market is the course ‘Lessons from Real Working Life,’ which is now taught in schools by human resources experts.

“In Poltava Oblast the local administration and employment service have drafted, approved, and are implementing Ukraine’s first program aimed at encouraging schoolchildren to take up specialties in demand on the labor market.

“Among the innovative projects launched by the state employment service is the professional orientation terminal. This is a youth-oriented professional counseling Internet portal with access through special electronic devices known as touch screens. The terminal’s motto is ‘Live and Work in Ukraine!’ The terminals, which will be installed in schools and will feature attractive state-of-the-art communication technologies, are expected to ensure a high level of accessibility, flexibility, and mobility of professional orientation services.

“The terminal has been highly rated by Ukraine’s leading scientists as a high-tech innovative product with a well-balance approach to meeting the informational needs of all types of users and with a considerable array of data. The terminal makes it possible for pupils to familiarize themselves with the essence and ways of adopting specific professions, and contains advice for parents about their children’s choice of profession, as well as information for teachers on professional orientation and psychology.

“By the end of this year, such terminals will have been installed at 1,000 schools in every region of Ukraine. This kind of terminal may be installed in 10,500 Ukrainian schools, including schools for orphans and the disabled, by the end of 2011. They will be paid for by the Compulsory State Social Unemployment Insurance Fund.”

What is your opinion of the Cabinet’s intention to allow regional authorities to fund and provide logistical support to vocational schools, in view of the positive results of this experiment in Lviv and Kharkiv oblasts?

“The experiment was conducted by the Ministry of Education and Science. In our opinion, this is an acceptable approach. This may also be a realistic way out of the present situation, where the education sphere is underfunded. The quality of personnel training depends on many factors, such as the state of teaching facilities, teachers’ professional level, students’ abilities and motivation to master a professional skill.

“But the problem is that a considerable part of vocational education institutions under the aegis of the Ministry of Education and Science do not have up-to-date facilities for training workers in the specialties that are in greatest demand on the labor market. Naturally, there are exceptions, but most vocational schools under this ministry train average-skilled workers, while most employers need highly-skilled workers right now.

“The state employment service is more mobile in this respect because it emphasizes a rapid response to the employer’s workforce requirements. The scope and directions of training, retraining, or upgrading the skills of unemployed people are planned in line with the economic requirements of a region’s enterprises and organizations, with due account of the actual demand of the labor market and employers.

“We are carrying out concrete tasks to furnish concrete employers with workers whom we can train in our educational centers. In addition, we can teach unemployed individuals or upgrade their skills even at their workplace. The state employment service network comprises teaching centers that have been successfully functioning for 10 years in Rivne Oblast and the Crimea. The State Employment Center is now making determined efforts to establish similar modern educational institutions in Odesa and Kherson Oblast. If regional administrations establish their own modern vocational institutions and invest their funds and efforts in this, there will be a positive result.”