[ad_1]
On Thursday, President Gitanas Nausėda met with the Minister of Social Security and Labor, Monika Navickiene. After the meeting, S. Krėpšta stated that during their meeting the main focus was the problem of unemployment.
“During the meeting, the main focus was the problem of unemployment. The unemployment rate in Lithuania reached almost 10% in December. and that’s much more than a year ago. In this sense, we are lagging behind the EU average in a bad way, although before the pandemic, the unemployment rate in Lithuania was slightly lower than the EU average, ”said S. Krėpšta.
According to him, measures were discussed with Ms Navickiene, which could help reduce unemployment more quickly, create new jobs and thus improve the social situation in the country.
According to the president, it would be worth reviewing the unemployment insurance system, since it is the first pillow that could address the situation of those who lost their jobs during the pandemic. At present, it is a fact that only 30 percent. the unemployed receive unemployment benefits, which is significantly too low a percentage. In other countries, such as Germany, this percentage is 60%, ”said S. Krėpšta.
According to him, youth unemployment stands out in this regard in a bad way.
“Academic research shows that young people are the group most affected by the pandemic and the unemployment rate in this group has increased the fastest. We need to find new ways to help young people, ”said the president’s adviser.
According to S. Krėpšta, the second aspect that was discussed is investment.
“We know that the European Council has managed to reconcile a massive enough investment, an additional investment in the country’s economy. “It is necessary to adapt them to the objectives of greening and digitization, certainly in the first place, but at the same time looking at how these investments could reduce unemployment in the youth age groups (ELTA) as soon as possible”, said the Councilor of the President.
According to him, the improvement of the quality of the activity of the Employment Service and the more active application of various labor market measures were also discussed.
“One of the measures was the one-stop-shop principle. Currently, both the Ministry of Economy and Innovation and the Ministry of Social Security and Labor have a wide range of aid, but we probably do not have a single window to obtain information about the different aids that help companies and create new jobs, “said the presidential adviser.
When asked why unemployment in Lithuania grew faster during the pandemic than in other EU countries, S. Krėpšta stated that “we cannot single out one reason, there is a whole complex of reasons”.
“Some economic sectors of the country have been affected. In other countries, the so-called automatic economic stabilizers may have been activated, causing people to return to the labor market more quickly. Other countries have used a variety of active and innovators in the labor market, which have also worked. The fact is that the unemployment rate has risen a lot, “he said.
However, the presidential adviser added that the unemployment rate in the country is gradually decreasing.
“The projections are positive, showing a modest decline in unemployment with no action at this time. But that decline is really moderate at around 1 percent.” We really need additional measures to get back to the levels we had before the pandemic, ” He said.
No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of ELTA.
[ad_2]
