RISK AND RESILIENCE: IMPACTS OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS IN KAZAKHSTAN
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The Employment and Retraining Strategy of the National Road Map Program The government’s programmatic response was aimed at mitigation of the negative impacts of the economic crisis and was introduced in spring 2009. We refer to this collection of activities as the Road Map program. The study gathered feedback on the first phase of the program’s Employment and Retraining Strategy (employment strategy), which lasted from 2009 to 2010. This phase specifically aimed at transferring resources from the national budget to local authorities with the objective of temporarily alleviating the impacts of the crisis-related increased unemployment. With an allocation from the national budget of T 200 billion ($1.4 billion), the strategy had four main components that were coordinated and monitored by a specially created interagency commission. The research included participants in all of the following four components. 1. Investment projects. Local municipalities, which were selected based on the requirements and peculiarities of each region, were funded to implement investment projects. The aim of these projects was to create jobs by investing in local infrastructure projects, such as rehabilitation of roads, residential and municipal places, schools, hospitals, and social and cultural objects. This component received the largest share of the employment strategy funds. Based on prevailing international practice, wages for low-skilled workers were set slightly below the market rate to ensure self-targeting. This design made the program attractive for the poor. 2. Social job assistance. This assistance created jobs for socially vulnerable people and guaranteed employers funding for 50 percent of employees’ salaries for up to six months. For the remaining half of the salaries, the employers were required to ensure reliable payment. 3. Youth internships. Through sponsored internships, this element of the employment strategy targeted young graduates of vocational schools, colleges, and universities with the aim of providing between three to six months of work experience. 4. Vocational training and retraining. This element of the program intended to provide training and retraining of unemployed people, with a view to supporting either the development of new skills that were more in demand by the labor market or by improving their skill level within their existing profession. The training offered vocational