MINSK, 5 April (BelTA) – The employment-to-population ratio in Belarus rose from 74% to 80% over the course of ten years, Chairwoman of the Belarusian National Statistics Committee Inna Medvedeva told the ONT TV channel, BelTA has learned.
“Employment is the most important economic characteristic of the population. More Belarusians entered the workforce. In 2009, the employment-to-population ratio was 74%, now it stands at 80%, which means that the unemployment rate went down,” Inna Medvedeva said as she commented on the changes in employment matters as against 2009, when the previous population census took place.
Most Belarusians are employed by legal entities, but their share declined, Inna Medvedeva noted. The number of Belarusians who answered that they are self-employed doubled.
The level of education of the working age population rose. In the past, every fourth working-age person had a university diploma, now – every third.
Inna Medvedeva explained why the questionnaire contained a section on agricultural activities. According to the requirement of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, every country should hold an agricultural census every ten years. “Belarus has never done that. When we submitted data about the contribution of the farm gross output to the country's GDP, some required information was missing, because the National Statistics Committee had not collected data about all categories of agricultural enterprises. In order to solve this issue, we decided to add the section on agricultural activities to the questionnaire,” she said.
An agricultural census takes into account the public sector, agricultural enterprises, and private farms, Inna Medvedeva added. However, the National Statistics Committee collects data about private farms on a regular basis, so this section was about activities of the population. “We gathered unique information that will help us calculate the farm gross output,” she noted.
The results of the population census are the main source of information for making decisions and projections about the country's development, Inna Medvedeva said. For example, this information will help decide where to build schools, hospitals, and roads, how much funds to allocate for education, healthcare, culture, and other areas.
