Employment Strategy-2030: Ihor Marchuk spoke about finalizing the employment policy of the population

In the difficult socio-economic conditions that have characterized Ukraine in recent years, the topic of employment has ceased to be only part of the economic discussion. It has turned into an indicator of social stability, an indicator of the stability of the state, a criterion for the well-being of the population and, at the same time, a source of structural tension in the economy. In a situation where the classical model of work undergoes transformations, and various forms of self-employment, project work or entrepreneurship become widespread, the state policy must change its focus. In this context, People’s Deputy and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Interaction between the State and Business and Investments Ihor Marchuk, who is participating in the work on the updated Employment Strategy-2030, laid out a number of important comments to the document, which the government should take into account when finalizing the employment policy.

The People’s Deputy considers the Employment Strategy-2030 an important step towards the formation of a sustainable, inclusive and efficient labor market, as well as the introduction of modern forms of work in the conditions of post-war recovery and long-term development of the country. However, attention should be paid to several key theses that should be taken into account in the process of finalizing and implementing the Strategy.

One of these issues, he believes, is the disproportion of work formats. According to him, the presented strategy clearly shows the priority of the wage labor format as the main tool for achieving its goals. He is convinced that such an imbalance is unjustified.

The politician notes that employment is a multi-component economic category that encompasses various forms of population participation in economic activity: hired labor, self-employment, entrepreneurship, family entrepreneurship, cooperative models, volunteer activities, etc. In order to effectively use the socio-economic potential of all categories of economic agents, it is necessary to rationally balance the representation of various forms of work within the system of economic relations.

Ihor Marchuk points out that the main bearer of proactive economic behavior is not an employee, but a self-employed person and/or an entrepreneur, including representatives of a family business. It is these categories of economic agents who consciously assume the entire range of entrepreneurial risks and strive to ensure their own well-being independently, without the participation of the state. According to him, it is these business entities that ensure economic self-sufficiency, contribute to social cohesion and act as key drivers of innovation and technological development. In this regard, the emphasis on the specified categories is strategically justified and should be strengthened.

The second important aspect Marchuk calls a decent income as a policy guideline. In his opinion, the indicator of the level of well-being of the population (households), which is provided by a decent income, should become a key reference point of the state policy in the field of employment. The structure of the concept of “decent income” should be formed taking into account the socio-economic realities of Ukraine, the level of development of the labor market, labor productivity, economization of society and access to economic opportunities.

At the same time, he emphasizes the fact that it is about income, and not exclusively about wages, because economic activity can be carried out in various organizational and legal forms and forms of work. In this regard, it is appropriate to distinguish between the motivational base of self-employment — as the provision of one’s own basic needs of households — and entrepreneurial activity, the purpose of which is to obtain profit and economic scaling.

Marchuk calls the need for flexible employment systems the third thesis. He fully supports the thesis of his colleagues regarding the inexpediency of attempts to “squeeze” Ukrainians into archaic models of labor relations, with their emphasis on the formation of a “new proletariat”, instead of promoting alternative forms of self-realization, such as self-employment, entrepreneurship or other models of economic activity outside the boundaries of classical wage labor. The socio-economic dynamics of Ukrainian society is significantly ahead of many traditional European approaches. Therefore, Ukraine should not copy outdated models, but create its own — flexible, inclusive and adapted to the Ukrainian context.

The People’s Deputy believes that such forms as platform, project, remote employment, freelance, flex-time, part-time, gig work are already a full-fledged part of the Ukrainian labor market today. Their legalization, normative recognition and integration into the institutional environment should become the subject of public-state consensus. Without adequate regulation and finding a consensus, detinization of the informal sector will remain impossible.

He calls the speed of access to legal work the fourth key indicator. This indicator is critically important for the state, which strives for anticipatory economic development. He believes that the speed of access to economic activity should be measured from the moment a person is ready to carry out economic activity (making a decision about self-employment, entrepreneurship or employment) to the moment of the actual start of activity, registration of an entity or conclusion of an employment contract. This approach will make it possible to objectively assess the effectiveness of the regulatory environment, in particular in terms of barriers to entering the labor market and/or starting one’s own business. This will provide an opportunity to identify bottlenecks in the legal and institutional system that restrain the economic activity of the population.

Ihor Marchuk calls economic inclusion the fifth important block. It is necessary to create institutional, infrastructural and economic conditions for the involvement of all social groups in full participation in economic activity. Special attention should be paid to economically inactive population groups: youth aged 15–24, persons with disabilities, people of the “third age” (60–75 years), war veterans, the sector of “invisible workers”, residents of rural areas and non-industrial areas.

The integration of these groups into the labor market and economic processes, in his opinion, should be considered not only as a tool for reducing unemployment and increasing employment of the population, but primarily as a key factor in strengthening social cohesion, increasing economic stability and expanding inclusive growth in the context of economic modernization.