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Aliaksandr Sasnou: Expenses on struggling against “social parasitism” to exceed incomes

Aliaksandr Sasnou: Expenses on struggling against “social parasitism” to exceed incomes

Former minister of labour Aliaksandr Sasnou speaks about consequences of the struggle against social parasitism.

The Belarusian authorities were assuring people for a long time that the unemployment rate in Belarus was extremely low. According to official statistics, Belarus has only 21,800 unemployed people. Aliaksandr Lukashenka, however, said recently that 500,000 social parasites live in Belarus.

“As far as I know, about 500,000 Belarusians are not involved in the economic activity. Let us assume that 100,000 are home-makers and people working on their household plots. And what do the remaining 400,000 do? Who pays for them? 400,000 people should be involved in the work. There should not be any idlers in the country. We need to make these people work and to stop distributing free benefits to those who do not work,” Lukashenka said.

The struggle against social parasites has become the main topic in Belarus.

Former minister of labour Aliaksandr Sasnou tells Belorusski Partizan how spongers appeared in Belarus, who they are and what the struggle against social parasitism will lead to.

– The Belarusian authorities said earlier that Belarus had only 21,800 unemployed people. It turned out recently that the country has as many as 500,000 social parasites. How is it possible?

– The data come from statistics. The National Statistical Committee calculates the number of people in the country and sees economically active people and people of working age. They compared these data to reports on the number of employed people and saw that 500,000 people are absent. So, they hurried to label them “social parasites”.

The official unemployment rate was calculated according to a different method. Belarus doesn't use the world approaches of defining unemployment. All countries use the ILO's method of based on household surveys. Belarus has lately begun to use this method too, but you cannot find these data. It's a secret. The unemployment rate of 0.5% published by the Statistical Committee is the number of those who are registered in the employment centre. It's strange that they found 22,000 jobless people. I don't understand why people register in the employment centre. They cannot find a good job, because centres offer only hard low-paid jobs. But it's not a problem to find a job of a street cleaner or a mover without employment centres. Those registered have to do community work, clean streets and so on only to get 15 dollars of unemployment payment. The data of the National Statistical Committee have nothing in common with the reality.

– Who are these Belarusian “social parasites”? Is it true that 500,000 people do not work?

– The Constitution says work is the right, but not the duty. You work if you want and don't work if you don't want. One can choose not to work for many reasons. An IT specialist, for example, earned much money, wrote a program and sold it, and lives on this money even for a few years. One bought flats and now rents them out. One doesn't work because his or her spouse earns enough. Many work in Russia, Ukraine and Poland. Many dismissed and cannot find a good job, but don't register in the employment centre. The authorities think those who don't pay taxes for six months are social parasites.

– The state hasn't paid attention to “social parasites” for 20 years, but now they have become one of the main problems of the Belarusian economy. Why?

– The answer is simple. The country needs money. So they are looking for various sources to get money. And they found. A professional would have never proposed it. The proposal wasn't made by professionals, so expenses from the struggle against “social parasitism” will exceed incomes. Who are they going to struggle against social parasitism?

The most terrible thing is that our system includes a lot of ministries and departments that make plans and do something. But it's only an illusion. We have a clear vertical system with “the cleverest man” at the top. “The cleverest man” says silly things and officials begin to implement it. You will lose your post if you don't fulfill it. So they hurry to fulfill orders. But what should they do and how? How they will define a social parasite? No one knows it, but Lukashenka ordered to fulfill it. He just woke up on the wrong side of the bed and so it began.

– In your opinion, does the problem of social parasitism exist in Belarus?

– The problem exists. But it is not significant. We don't have many so called “asocial elements”. I saw such people. My friends' son worked in Svetlahorsk. He was taking their money and spending it on alcohol. We have such people. There are few such people, but they exist. We need to do something with them, but police methods are not good. Our government wants to solve all problems using police methods.

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