The number of unemployed people in Kyrgyzstan has risen 6.5 times since 1993 up to 204,000 currently, adviser to Kyrgyz Economic Regulation Minister Lubov Ten told a conference entitled 'Employment in Kyrgyzstan: Problems and Political Choice of the Country' on Friday, KirTAG reported.
"The number of unemployed in Kyrgyzstan increased by 6.5 times from 29,400 in 1993 to 204,000 in 2011," Miss Ten reported.
She said the accelerated growth in the number of unemployed people resulted from the worsening of living standards as structural changes in the economy were made and production declined.
"The high unemployment is related to the growth of the human workforce from 2,255,000 in 1993 to 3,600,000 now. The workforce has increased by nearly 60 per cent while the number of the economically active population grew by 37.1 per cent. The number of inactive population increased by 2.5 times over the period," Miss Ten said.
Kyrgyz Labor and employment minister Almazbek Abytov said the number of unemployed is much higher than the official figure.
"I am often asked why the unemployment figure is so high and I'd like to note that our ministry does not create jobs, but only establishes conditions for that. Our ministry currently experiences a structural change and out of 23 kinds of services rendered to the population, 20 per cent have been cut so now we provide only 15 kinds of services. As a consequence, our previous work is now the responsibility of non-governmental organisations," Mr Abytov reported.
As noted at the conference, the high unemployment results from the absence of consolidated labour market policy and insufficient number of jobs.