Author: Tatyana Gracheva
Foreign Workforce in Kazakhstan Reaches 14,000 as Quotas Expand
Kazakhstan has expanded the quota for attracting foreign specialists to 19,400 positions starting Aug. 2025, which represents 0.25% of the workforce, after the list of eligible seasonal professions was expanded. As of Aug. 1, 14,130 foreign citizens are officially employed in Kazakhstan under work permits issued by local executive authorities, the Ministry of Labor and […]
Read moreNo agreement on minimum wage
At the second session of the Socio-Economic Council (SES), no agreement was reached on the minimum wage for 2026, and the next meeting has been scheduled for 29 August, when negotiations will continue. Representatives of the Government of Serbia and employers stuck to their original positions, honorary president of the Employers’ Union, Nebojša Atanacković, confirmed […]
Read moreAgreement on minimum wage is not reached
As the second session of the Socio-Economic Council (SES) did not lead to any agreement on the minimum wage for 2026, the next meeting will take place on 29 August. In case of no agreement, the Government will make the decision on the minimum wage on 11 September. A 10.1 percent increase in the minimum […]
Read moreGeorgia’s unemployment rises to 14.3%
The preliminary data from Geostat revealed that Georgia’s unemployment rate reached 14.3% in the second quarter of 2025, up 0.6 percentage points from the same period last year. The increase was driven largely by a decline in women’s employment. Unemployment among men remained unchanged at 15.9%, while among women it rose from 10.9% last year […]
Read moreMinimum wage will be frozen by Kazakhstan in 2026 in spite of earlier promises
As Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin confirmed at a recent press conference, Kazakhstan will maintain its current minimum wage of 85,000 KZT per month (approximately $157) in 2026.
However, there is a contradiction between this announcement and earlier statements that Minister of Labor and Social Protection Svetlana Zhakupova had made in June. She indicated the intention of the government to raise the minimum wage from January 1, 2026. There was even a suggestion made by Finance Minister Madi Takiev to increase it to just over 90,000 KZT ($166). Nevertheless, Zhumangarin stated that they have scrapped the proposed adjustment.
He said that there are currently no plans to increase the minimum wage. As of today, it remains at 85,000 KZT, and there are no projects of increase at this time.
According to Zhumangarin, the government has allocated 800 billion KZT ($1.4 billion) in the 2026 budget to cover the costs of annual indexation of pensions and benefits to inflation. As Takiev added, they have made the decision to leave the wage unchanged while calculations had been made for a potential increase, “given the current situation”.
Last increase of the minimum wage took place in January 2024, from 70,000 KZT ($135 at the time) to its current level. There are calls for a broader review of the minimum wage, the minimum subsistence level, and the structure of the official food basket coming from some members of parliament.
During an interview, Zhumangarin recognized that he himself could not live on 85,000 KZT per month under current market conditions, but he also highlited the need of a cautious approach to the issue.
Also, the Ministry of Labor said that approximately 170,000 people in Kazakhstan currently earn the minimum wage, while another 160,000 earn around 100,000 KZT monthly. There are totally 9.3 million employed individuals in the country, as of the first quarter of 2025.
Nevertheless, Yelnur Beisenbayev, AMANAT parliamentary faction leader, criticized government statistics, particularly the official average salary figure of 423,000 KZT ($830).
As he remarked, three million people earn around 200,000 KZT in Kazakhstan, of whom 1.8 million live on the minimum wage of 85,000 KZT. Beisenbayev asked who earns 423,000. According to him, the government calculates the average wage in a wrong way – just summarizing the wages and dividing the total sum into the number of people.
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Read moreEmigration to Malta: how can Ukrainians move there in 2025?
Malta attracts Ukrainians with its warm climate, English as the official language, and opportunities for work and study. In 2025, the rules for entry and obtaining visas here have their own peculiarities, which are important to consider before planning your move. Learn more about the conditions for emigration, types of visas, and legalisation options in […]
Read moreUnions demand minimum wage of 600 euros for 2026: what do employers say?
The increase of the minimum wage in Serbia as of October 1, from 53,592 dinars (457 euros) to 58,630 dinars (500 euros), which would remain in effect until the end of this year, is sufficient even for 2026, said yesterday the honorary president of the Union of Employers of Serbia (UPS), Nebojša Atanacković, assessing that […]
Read moreKazakhstan to Freeze Minimum Wage in 2026 Despite Earlier Promises
Kazakhstan will maintain its current minimum wage of 85,000 KZT per month (approximately $157) in 2026, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin confirmed at a recent press conference. This announcement contradicts earlier statements made in June by Minister of Labor and Social Protection Svetlana Zhakupova, who indicated that the government intended […]
Read moreINDICATORS OF THE LABOUR FORCE (EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT) II QUARTER, 2025 YEAR
In the II quarter of 2025, the unemployment rate in Georgia increased by 0.6 percentage points compared to the corresponding period of the previous year and equaled 14.3 percent.In the II quarter of 2025, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, the number of hired employees increased by 4.7 thousand persons (0.5%) and […]
Read moreThe Labor Market in Serbia values craftsmanship
A reality of the domestic job market shows that the salary of a baker in Serbia can exceed that of a doctor. This fact puts a security of graduated specialists in the job market in question.
Despite the shortage of skilled workers in trades, the needs are increasingly shifting toward workers with secondary vocational education and skilled tradespeople.
The specialized job-seeking site “Poslovi Infostud” conducted a research concerning trends in the job market from 2020 to the end of 2024. It showed that the share of job advertisements aimed at highly educated candidates decreased from 38 percent to 29 percent. Nevertheless, a different picture appears at a more detailed analysis – an actual growth of the number of these advertisements from 16,752 during the pandemic year of 2020 to 21,326 in 2024. The problem is that some segments of the market have grown even faster, such as skilled tradespeople, placing skilled tradespeople “in the spotlight.”
According to Miloš Turinski, the public relations manager of “Poslovi Infostud,” there have been about 120,000 job ads for candidates with higher education in the last five years (around 30 to 35 percent of the total number annually).
Drivers, construction workers, hospitality staff, and auto mechanics, chefs, hairdressers, painters, wallpaper hangers, carpenters, plumbers and waiters are in demand.
According to the NSZ, the structure of the economy, with such most represented sectors as manufacturing, construction, transport, and trade causes the increase in the number of advertisements for workers with secondary education. Another significant challenge for the domestic job market is the emigration of workers abroad.
The significant shortage in the market gives skilled tradespeople the “luxury” of selecting jobs and setting work conditions and of earning from 1,000 euros and upwards.
In education the situation is similar. According to the Minister of Education, Dejan Vuk Stanković, the projection for this year is that the starting salary in education will be 114,000 dinars. Low salaries have led to the lowest number of enrolled students in the last decade.
The NSZ expects the job market in Serbia to stabilize gradually in the future, due to economic growth, the development of the IT sector, services, and creative industries.
They also expect the field of artificial intelligence to grow. Interest in experienced workers in this sector remains high despite job optimization and a decrease in the volume of projects. Another trend with anticipated growth is foreign labor imports.
Skills rather than solely degrees are the main focus of employers. So, they value secondary vocational qualification supplemented with additional courses more than a degree. Nevertheless, the significance of higher education will remain.
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