The information sessions were attended by graduates of the Tashkent University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Tashkent State Transport University, Tashkent Automobile and Road Technical School, Academic College at the Tashkent University of Architecture and Civil Engineering.

As Shohista Charieva, chief specialist in protecting the socio-economic interests of workers of the aforementioned Republican Council of the Trade Union, noted, “Young people make up an important part of the country's human capital, while they are the least competitive social group. Our aim is to educate boys and girls about the risks associated with informal employment, about the benefits of formal employment, and about the importance of joining trade unions that protect the rights and represent the interests of workers”.

In an interactive format, graduates of technical schools and universities asked their questions about the services provided by trade unions, the support they can receive in case of problems in social and labour relations between employees and the employer.

“It is important to understand that receiving part of the wages informally, “in an envelope” means low official earnings, a violation of the labour rights of workers in the field of the work organization and working conditions. This means a low pension in the future and the inability to take a loan in the present. Such workers are deprived of the opportunity to receive full benefits for temporary disability, unemployment, child care and severance pay in the event of redundancy. Their rights are difficult to protect. That is why it is important to protect yourself from such risks in the labour market,” said Lilia Kachkinbaeva, coordinator of the ILO project “Transition from the informal to the formal employment”.

All alumni who participated in the information sessions were given brochures and posters prepared with the support of the ILO project, detailing the risks of informal employment and the benefits of formal employment.