The ILO “Employment Academy II” a timely support to the Russian reform of the employment centres

The Public Employment Service (PES) high officials from 21 regions, federal authorities and the ILO experts exchanged experiences and learnt from the best international practices on how to deliver quality services for jobseekers and employers, meeting requirements of a rapidly changing world of work.

The federal project “Support to employment and improvement of labour market efficiency to ensure growth and productivity” implemented by ROSTRUD with support of the Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, reported that 16 pilot Russian regions are now actively participating and progressing toward the set targets. Each region is inaugurating a model employment centre fully equipped, with new premises, workspaces and applying the recently established federal standards for quality services unified in the concept of the new brand "Work for Russia".

The ongoing federal reform is fully aligned with the newly approved ILO’s Centenary Declaration calling for investments in people’s capabilities and institutions of the labour market. The ILO considers this reform as an appropriate response to enhance the national capacity to formulate and deliver labour market programmes and employment services adapted to a changing world of work, taking into consideration demographic transitions and technological changes influencing the labour markets worldwide, with a particular focus on young and older workers.

The Employment Academy II provided international expertise on subject critically relevant for the current phase on the implementation of the federal reform of the Russian employment services. The ILO presented innovative country experiences for delivering active labour market programs through enhanced public-private partnerships and how the most advanced approaches to strategic management of employment services are applied in different countries.

The ILO and ROSTRUD consider that staff training is an important component for ensuring a successful institutional reform. To upgrade the professional competencies of employees of the Russian Employment Centres, the ILO presented a staff development plan and the training manual “The PES and the Future of Work”, which provides timely response to the unified and standardized requirements for the employment centres and support the federal goal of achieving a new service delivery model by 2025.

The opening featured remarks by Mikhail Ivankov, head of ROSTRUD; Mikhail Kirsanov, head of the Department of Employment, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Russian Federation, who explained the importance of reforming the employment centres within the context of the national project called “Labour productivity and support to employment”. The federal authorities stressed the importance of the timely support provided by the ILO Moscow Office and the ILO Project “Partnerships for youth employment in the Commonwealth of Independent States”, a public-private partnership financed by Russian Lukoil Company. During the closing, Olga Koulaeva, Director of the ILO Moscow office, explained to what extent the main components of the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work are relevant for the ongoing federal reform of the employment services.