Ivankov speech at 28 BSPC

The 28th Baltic Sea Parliamentary ConferenceOslo, Norway, 25 – 27 August 2019Clean Oceans & the Future of Working LifeChallenges and VisionsMonday, 26 AugustSECOND SESSIONThe Future of Working LifeMinisters of Labour and High-level representatives ofthe Labour MinistriesMr Mikhail Ivankov,Director General of the Federal Service for Labour and Employment, the RussianFederationCourtesy translation; check against delivery. Only the speech as given has any validity.Talking Points of the Report by M.Yu. Ivankov, the Head of the Federal Service for Labor and Employment at the 28th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference "Future of Working Life"Oslo, August 26, 2019Dear Colleagues!We may live in a fast-paced world, but the activities of human beings in the world of work remains the basis of this world, its very essence. And thus, the topic we are discussing today, "The Future of Working Life", is a crucial one. In the context of the rapidly changing realities of the modern labour market, we need to be able to predict the future of work in a timely manner and at the same time to create the conditions necessary for people to do their jobs while factoring in modern challenges and the requirements of social development.This year's report of the Global Commission on the Future of Work, which marks the 100th anniversary of the International Labor Organization, critically examines the major changes to the world of work and to the megatrends in a global format. The sweeping changes taking place both in the economic and in the social sphere have a direct impact on the world of labor. In fact, a number of ongoing and seemingly insignificant changes are driving us towards new models of labor activity involving all of its aspects.It is these new developments that I would like to focus on in my speech. These new elements are seamlessly linked to existing models of labour relations, and, at the same time, constitute radical and qualitative changes in the nature of the working life of people in the modern world.We are witnessing the emergence of new forms of working lives that will impact on the future. Routine operations are increasingly being algorithm-driven and are often replaced by automatic machines or robots, with the role of human labour in these processes is changing dramatically.Distance work and platform employment, as well as freelancing are on the rise. This, in turn, requires new forms of organising and maintaining labor relations, including devising measures to protect workers' rights.This new model of labor relations is increasingly shifting the focus from learning a profession to developing a skill-set. Today, it is much more important for a modern employer to understand what a potential employee knows and can do and which skills he or she possesses. In turn, an employee has to response quickly and in a timely manner to the changing needs of the labor market.New requirements arising from the modern organization of production activities, in turn, have an impact on the entire system of employees’ training and qualification assessment. Life-long learning is a must for employees who need to constantly add to and maintain their professional skills.All of the above changes in people's working lives is leading to changes in the management of labor organization processes. The main tool in labor and employment management is the digitalization of all components of an individual working life including training, recognition and validation of skills, promotion of employment, and the regular practice and perfection of these skills.The challenges of the digital economy dictate new ways of interacting between employees, employers and labor authorities. These include, among other things, the use of electronic file management, the introduction of the electronic employment contract, the formation of a single digital environment based on trust, providing the participants of the digital economy with the means of trusted digital remote communication, as well as enabling control and supervision activities at all stages in electronic form.The basic platform for creating digital labour market development tools for the management of labor-related processes is the "Job in Russia" portal, operated by the Federal Service for Labour and Employment. Today on the “Job in Russia” portal, there are about 1 million employee resumees and 1.5 million vacant positions.This information resource already makes it possible to carry out a detailed search for work and for potential personnel candidates, as well as a multifactor assessment of the living and working conditions in a specific region of Russia based on a wide range of indicators reflecting the level of socio-economic development of the region. Thus, the prerequisites for the active migration of the labor force within the country have been created and implemented.Next year there are plans to create a new "Online Labor Relations" service, which will enable employment contracts to be drawn up and entered into, as well as offering an option for storing documents related to work in electronic form, which will ensure the prevention of violations of labor laws.We and our social partners, already organize and conduct the monitoring of sought-after professions and emerging careers on the labor market in terms of skill-sets and we are already developing, updating and implementing professional standards and forming a system of independent assessment of qualifications. In this area, developing a system for predicting future skill requirements to ensure that the life-long learning system and the ongoing development of the entire system of professional qualifications is promising.Last week in the Russian Federation, in Kazan, the 45-th World Championship of professional skills WorldSkills Kazan 2019 was held. Within this framework, the largest International Ministers Summit on vocational education, employment development and staff training at the WorldSkills meeting was held, with the participation of more than 40 countries. WorldSkills Championship is a platform where the experts share their experiences in standardizing skills, which is of interest to employers and students and workers as well as to educational institutions and government authorities. We already build on this experience in processing skill qualifications, and in developing new professional standards as well as updating existing ones.One innovation in the Russian Federation is the national championship we hold on professions for citizens of pre-retirement age “Skills of the Wise” accordingly to WorldSkills standards.Another important area of information platform development is analysing data from the "Job in Russia" system, including typical applicant and typical employer behaviour patterns. The development of analytical tools that automatically compare these patterns will help create services for the proactive recruitment of personnel and selection of vacancies, as well as tracking trends in the labor market based on "big data" technology. A digital platform like this will help people understand what their labour skills are and which are becoming obsolete (which skills are no longer needed), and which, on the contrary, are increasingly in demand (which new skills are arising). This will help people to retrain proactively in time, including remotely or independently. Certification of qualifications obtained will also be possible using digital solutions.The challenges of the digital economy have shifted the focus to new technologies also in the area of protecting worker’s rights. With new forms of labor interaction, we need to establish new forms of supervisory and monitoring activities. On the one hand, these are services that allow workers and employers to gain easy access to comprehensive information about the requirements of labor legislation, to increase their legal knowledge and undergo a self-assessment on a wide range of issues of labor legislation. At present, Onlineinspektsiya.rf (Онлайнинспекция.рф) system has been implemented in the Russian Federation, including a whole range of services. On the other hand, a full-fledged remote surveillance instrument has been created, which was first tested last year as a pilot project, and which is actively gaining ground.Dear colleagues!The well-being of any citizen of any country in the world must be the aim of any social and labor changes. Therefore, the basic principle of designing the future sphere of labor is its humanization, that is creating opportunities for people’s self-fulfillment regardless of gender, age, social status, place of residence, health status or other aspects. In other words, it is a people-oriented agenda where economic and social policy, as well as business practices, are focused on the individual and his or her work.In modern Russia, efforts in the field of labor are being actively implemented, as set out in the Declaration of the First Meeting of Ministers of Labor of the CBSS in 2017 including those related to vulnerable groups of popualtion.Employing people with disabilities is fostered through the mechanism of job quotas at enterprises and the implementation of the "Accessible Environment" comprehensive state program.Priority is being given to ensuring decent employment for young people, including through the promotion of youth entrepreneurship. On the whole, the youth labor market in Russia is characterized by relatively good indicators, although the unemployment rate for this category of workers is higher than the labor market average.The implementation of national projects, including the national "Demography" project, is creating conditions for women raising children to achieve the maximum balance between work and child care, including through vocational training during maternity leave. This enables women to acquire additional professional skills, including the ability to combine work with family responsibilities.In addition, vocational training and additional vocational education and training are being organized for people of pre-retirement age to enable the continuation of their employment, both in their previous positions and in new jobs.One of the priorities of the modern strategy of the labor sphere for us is the enhancement of social protection of employees. In Russia, 100% of employees are covered by the social insurance system. It is important that the national system of social protection adapts to the changes taking place in the labor sphere, in particular, to the emergence of new forms of employment. For example, in 2019, a pilot project was launched under which self-employed people were given the opportunity to register with the tax authorities and, after minor contributions to the tax system, to obtain compulsory medical insurance and pension benefits. At the same time, the scope of the changes taking place in the forms of employment and types of labor activity will require further modernization of legislation to provide social protection to those who choose to work freely, outside the traditional employer-employee relations.We are well aware that the future lies in the globalisation of the labour market. At the same time, the labor market needs to be regulated and effective tools are being developed for this purpose. Currently, measures are being taken within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) to create - on the basis of the "Job in Russia" portal - a unified "Work without Borders" system, aimed at expanding the opportunities to search for vacancies and resumees for citizens of EAEU member states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.One of the key areas of the Concept of the State Migration Policy of the Russian Federation for 2019-2025 is the development of mechanisms for the organized recruitment of foreign workers to work in Russia. Within a regulated recruitment process, employers can hire sought-after employees, and these potential employees can gain a better understanding in advance of where they are going, to which employer, and what conditions of work and stay will be provided to them before they leave for Russia.In order to implement the regulated recruitment process, intergovernmental agreements have already been signed with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, agreements with Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam have been prepared and will be signed soon, and a few more agreements are at approval stage, and a digital platform for managing the regulated recruitment process is also being developed on the basis of the "Job in Russia" portal.Dear colleagues,This is a summary of certain areas of labor and future working life, as we see them in the Russian Federation, and in respect of which efforts are already being actively taken.We are working under the assumption that understanding future labor is a task that cannot only be solved at the national level with the involvement of all parties in the social partnership, but also at the international level, bearing in mind the enormous mutual impact of the economies of different countries, demographic, social, technological changes, all over the world.Thank you for your attention!