STATE EMPLOYMENT POLICY IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC CRISIS IN GEORGIA

Abstract

  The crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has not only economic character, it is multifaceted, so ways to tackle the problem are more complex and ambiguous. Measures to protect the health of the population often comes into conflict with economic recovery measures, which raises the issue of their proper balancing. At the same time, financial, moral and material support should be provided to the vulnerable sections of the society, at the same time, the party creating the demand for labor should be encouraged to maintain jobs. Recovering the economy requires a comprehensive and consistent strategy based on the interests of each citizen. It is important to have an active social dialogue between employers 'and entrepreneurs' organizations and employees. These measures are relatively easy to implement for countries with high incomes and developed economies, while for low-income countries, the use of fiscal and monetary policy instruments is limited and therefore becomes a more difficult process. In such a case, it is recommended to differentiate the directions of the state employment policy according to the priority. The first line of action in the conditions of the covid-19 pandemic should be to stop the growth of poverty caused by declining employment income from reduced employment. As mentioned above, the government's anti-crisis plan even provides for passive policy measures and appropriate funding. However, it should be noted that the simplification of bureaucratic procedures related to the issuance and administration of targeted benefits would also be desirable. The activation of passive policy has accelerated the "formalization" of informal employees, it is recommended to continue working in this direction through a different prism to prevent the growth of precariate in the labor market. It is advisable to increase the number of jobs in the formal sector, to adequately remunerate the qualifications and energy expended, to create normal working conditions and to provide real protection of the labor rights of the employees. It is recommended to finance various projects and startups to promote self-employment and motivate the unemployed people. An important measure is the systematic research of labor market needs, which creates a clear picture of the requirements in the field of employment in the policy-making process and is a vector in the planning of training relevant qualified personnel. The latter will help to eliminate the most important problems of the Georgian labor market - the imbalance between labor demand and supply.