In Uzbekistan, 557 thousand returned migrants secured gainful employment — Minister

In Uzbekistan, 557 thousand returning migrants secured income-generating employment — Minister

Out of 661 thousand citizens of Uzbekistan who returned from labor migration, 557 thousand were involved in income-generating activities. This was announced on September 29 at a plenary session of the Legislative Chamber by the Minister of Employment and Poverty Reduction, Botir Zakhidov.

According to him, work is ongoing to secure employment for another 70 thousand returning migrants, taking into account their wishes and preferences.

The minister also noted that over four months of this year, 275 thousand families were lifted out of poverty, and during the first half of the year, the activities of 615 thousand people who worked informally were brought out of the shadow economy.

According to Botir Zakhidov, during the reporting period, 294 thousand poor families, or 1.3 million people, received 376 thousand services aimed at increasing income.

Among the members of such families, 105 thousand people were placed in permanent jobs, 259 thousand were engaged in entrepreneurship, and another 12 thousand underwent vocational training.

To support the entrepreneurial initiatives of families in need, 2 trillion soums in loans and 265 billion soums in subsidies were allocated.

In 563 mahallas located in border and enclave territories, 84 thousand people were lifted out of poverty due to income growth, according to the minister.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Technologies, 49 thousand children from poor families completed free remote courses in IT, English, e-commerce, SMM, and graphic design. Another 125 thousand children were involved in extracurricular classes.

As of July 1, the employed population reached 11.6 million people, increasing by 657 thousand since the beginning of the year, according to official data.

The minister reported that 76% of the country's labor resources, or 16 million people, constitute the economically active population ready for work.

During the first half of the year, 469 thousand people were placed in permanent jobs based on a project approach, and the incomes of 2.7 million people increased.

In the mahallas, 103 thousand micro-projects were launched during the reporting period, thanks to which 246 thousand people received a primary or additional source of income. In 22 thousand of such projects, 30 thousand members of poor families were involved as entrepreneurs or hired employees. It is planned to launch another 60 thousand micro-projects by the end of the year.

During the first half of the year, 76 trillion soums in loans were allocated to small and medium-sized businesses, of which 19 trillion soums were within entrepreneurship support programs.

To improve the infrastructure of 1,245 mahallas and 70 districts, 9 trillion soums were allocated from the state budget this year.

With these funds, construction work is underway at 3,200 facilities.

In addition, solar panels were installed in 2,653 households, and another 1,727 homes were renovated according to "green" standards.

Botir Zakhidov spoke separately about the work of hokims' assistants.

"From February to May, senior officials of ministries and departments traveled to the regions as part of working groups and organized training for hokims' assistants. 8,785 hokims' assistants underwent training, and another 209 of the most promising specialists were sent for advanced training to Japan, Turkey, China, and Russia. A new system for evaluating their performance has also been introduced, focusing not on the quantity but on the quality of work," the minister said.

According to him, the main criteria now are the number of sustainable jobs created, the number of families that increased their income, and the number of business entities whose activities became stable.

By the end of 2026, the authorities plan to place another 583 thousand people in permanent jobs, increase the incomes of 2 million people, and bring 661 thousand informally employed out of the shadow economy.

The task has also been set to reduce the poverty level by at least half in 37 districts and 915 mahallas with difficult socio-economic situations.

According to the minister, at the end of the first half of the year, the poverty and unemployment rate in the country decreased to 4.5%.

On August 25, Jamshid Kuchkarov, commenting on the poverty and unemployment reduction indicators at a meeting of the Legislative Chamber, reported that President Shavkat Mirziyoyev demanded a change in the very approach to assessing the results of the fight against poverty.

He also reported that about 1.4 million citizens of Uzbekistan work in nearly 40 countries. Around 60% of them are in Russia. At the same time, the share of CIS countries in the geography of labor migration has decreased, while the European and East Asian directions have grown.