The Labour Divide | Page 6

“unemployed” status
and of all the benefits attaching thereto.
Generally, we would not have recommended public works.

From the Encyclopedia Britannica:
“The weakness in the proposal to use disguised unemployment for the
construction of social overhead capital projects arises from inadequate
consideration of the problem of providing necessary subsistence funds

to maintain the workers during the long waiting period before the
projects yield consumable output. This can be managed somehow for
small-scale local community projects when workers are maintained in
situ by their relatives – but not when workers move away. The only
way to raise subsistence funds is to encourage voluntary savings and
expansion of marketable surplus of food purchased with these savings.”
But public works financed by grants or soft loans can serve as an
interim “unemployment sink” – a buffer against wild upswings in
unemployment.
The situation in Macedonia is so extreme, that it is comparable only to
the Great Depression in the USA.
In the USA, in 1932, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was
established to tackle nature conservation work for the young and
unmarried men. They planted trees, erected flood barriers, put out
forest fires and constructed forest roads and trails. They lived in work
camps under a semi-military regime. They were provided with food
rations and a modest monthly cash allowance, medical care and other
necessities. The CCC employed 500,000 people at its peak – and 3
million people throughout its existence.
In any case, there is always the danger that public works will simply
displace existing employment. Labour union and local municipality
endorsements should, therefore, be strictly observed.
Administrative Measures: Public Education and Dissemination of
Information – The Functioning of the Employment Bureau

The dissemination of information regarding employment practices,
opportunities, market requirements, etc. should be a prime component
of the activity of the Employment Bureau. It must transform itself from
a mere registry of humans to an active exchange of labour. This can be
done through computerized employment exchanges and intermediation.
To change the image of the Employment Bureaus from places where
the unemployed merely registers and receive benefits to a labour
exchange can be done by publishing examples of successful job
placements.
I recommend to prominently display and disseminate information
regarding the rights of the unemployed, their obligations and services
available to them and to publish weekly or daily employment bulletins.

To organize seminars to the unemployed and to employers in which the
rights of the unemployed, their obligations and the services offered to
them and to their potential employers will be described. This can be
combined with employment fairs. Separately, the unemployed should
be taught in these seminars how to find a job, prepare a curriculum vita
(biography), entrepreneurial skills, preparation of business plans,
marketing plans, feasibility studies, credit applications and interview
skills.
The Employment Bureaus in collaboration with the local authorities
should organize job clubs, labour exchanges and employment fairs –
places where employers can meet potential employees, currently
unemployed.
I recommend to oblige the mass media by law to dedicate at least an
hour weekly (could be broken to as many as 4 segments of 15 minutes
each) to unemployment: disseminate information, organize a televised
labour exchange, a televised entertainment show (where employers will
offer a job to a winner) and so on.
I recommend to link by a Wide Area Network (WAN) or Intranet with
firewalls the National Employment Bureau, the Health Fund, the
Pension and Disability Insurance Fund and the Social Security Office.
To cross and compare information from all these bureaus on a real time
basis (to specifically cater to the needs of an unemployed person) and
on a periodical basis for supervision and control purposes.
The National Employment Bureau should maintain a regular presence
in employment fairs abroad. Many fairs are global and work can be
obtained in them for Macedonian workers (especially the more skilled).
A National employment Contract
A “National Employment Contract” should be signed between the
government, the trade unions, the employers (Chamber of Commerce)
and the Central Bank. All parties will have to concede some things. The
Employers will guarantee the formation of new work places against a
freeze on employee compensation, a separate treatment of part time
labour (exclusion from collective bargaining), flexibility on minimum
wages and with regards to job security, hiring and firing procedures,
social and unemployment benefits, indexation of wages and benefits,
the right to strike and the level of salaries. The employers will obligate
themselves to fixed quantitative targets over a number of years against

the receipt of the unemployment benefits of the newly hired (or another
form of subsidy or tax incentive) and/or a discount in social
contributions. The National Employment Contract should aim to
constrain inflation by limiting wage gains to productivity gains (for
instance, through dividends on the shareholdings of the workers or