200,000 eligible people to get jobs next year: Minister

KABUL (Pajhwok): Labor and Social Affairs Minister Bashir Ahmad Tayang on Monday said 54 percent of the country’s population was jobless due to the outbreak of coronavirus, but next year 200,000 eligible people would be provided with work opportunities.

Tayang said this while briefing reporters about his ministry’s last year’s activities and next year’s plans as part of the “Government Accountability to the Nation” program.

The “Government Accountability to the Nation” program was launched 14 years ago during former President Hamid Karzai government.

Since then, every year government departments share their annual performance reports with the media.

The Afghan Railways and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs today briefed reporters about their activities in the past year and their plans for next year on Monday.

Ting said in fiscal year 1399, at the time of the outbreak of the coronavirus and quarantine measures in the country, 54% of the population were unemployed but according to central statistics released about a month ago, the figure has dropped to 40 percent.

He expressed the hope that the unemployment rate would be greatly reduced by May of this year and added that in cooperation with the private sector in fiscal year 1400, employment would be provided for 200,000 eligible workers.

Ting said sending Afghan workers abroad was another major program of the ministry this fiscal year.

According to him; under agreements about 5,000 Afghan workers will be sent to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iran.

He said preparing practical plans and identifying and analyzing the situation of the ministry, strengthening women’s participation and supporting their presence in workplace, combating corruption, facilitating employment, providing social services in kindergartens and supporting centers of vulnerable children, financial reforms and implementation of open government participation” are among the main programs of the current fiscal year of this ministry.

He added the draft policy of workplace safety for women, the provision of emergency food assistance, the prohibition of begging and the collection of beggars in the city, and the survey of children indulged in hard labor are also among the most important achievements of the policy and legislative department of the ministry during last fiscal year.

bk/ma

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