Thematic feature - unskilled workers

* Including vocational post-secondary education.

Source: Lithuanian Statistics.

As indicated by tables 5 and 6 above, women's monthly earnings are on average 20% less than those of men in the same occupational group, and 20%-30% less than those of men with the same level of education.

(c) Are there any differences between unskilled workers/workers in unskilled jobs and higher-skilled groups in terms of access to other benefits, social security, pensions, etc? Please break all figures down by gender where possible.

As the earnings of unskilled workers are significantly lower than those of employees with higher qualifications/skills, the access of unskilled workers to various social security benefits is also different. In terms of of social benefits whose amount is directly related to the level of previous earnings (old-age pensions, sickness allowances, maternity allowances, allowances payable in case of accidents at work, and unemployment benefits), unskilled workers are - given their lower earnings - in a more unfavourable situation, as they are entitled to lower benefits than employees with higher qualifications in the same situation. On the other hand, in terms of social assistance, the families of unskilled workers with low earnings are in a more favourable situation as they can claim benefits payable in the event of poverty as well as various compensations related to maintenance of housing, provided such families satisfy some specific conditions established by the government.

Actions and views

(a) Please describe any recent initiatives taken jointly or separately by companies, public authorities (national or local) or the social partners (eg collective agreements) to address the situation and improve the situation of unskilled workers in terms of pay, working conditions, training, employability, unemployment etc.

(b) Please summarise the views of trade unions and employers’ organisations on the issue and its implications for collective bargaining.

The most recent national initiative that should improve the situation of unskilled workers is a resolution adopted by the social partners on January 2005 to increase the national minimum wage by 10% - from LTL 500 (EUR 145) to LTL 550 (EUR 159 per month - with effect from 1 July 2005 (LT0502101N). Overall, however, unskilled workers have generally not been identified as a problem and, with social dialogue relatively weakly developed, the issue does not feature notably in the industrial relations sphere.

Organisations representing employers state that at present employers particularly emphasise the underqualification of employees, but most often they relate this problem to employees with higher qualifications, rather than unskilled workers. According to the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists (Lietuvos pramonininkų konfederacija, LPK), the training of unskilled workers is arranged by individual employers (in the best case), while LPK does not take any action in this regard. In the near future, the Lithuanian Confederation of Business Employers (Lietuvos verslo darbdavių konfederacija, LVDK) plans to initiate some training of employees in member companies, but according to LVDK representatives, most probably such training will not be aimed at the employees with the lowest skills.

The same trend is emphasised by representatives of trade unions. They state that employers more often invest in improving the qualifications of employees with higher skills and do not bother about unskilled workers. Given that, as mentioned above, most union members are blue-collar workers (including unskilled workers), trade unions spend their own funds on trying to help such workers, especially when they are in danger of losing their jobs. However, union funds are generally too small to improve significantly the training and employability of these workers.

The role of the state authorities is increasing in the field of vocational training and reskilling of employees: the number of unemployed people involved in labour market measures run by the LDB is growing, as is the number of individuals participating in vocational training programmes organised by the Lithuanian Labour Market Training Authority (Lietuvos darbo rinkos mokymo tarnyba, LDRMT). In 2003, LDRMT introduced special programmes for long-term unemployed people, which have significantly contributed to the participation of this group, who as a rule are unskilled workers, in vocational training.

Comments

Unskilled workers are not a very major issue in Lithuania, and are little discussed by the social partners and in public debate. Though employers are increasingly looking for adaptable, higher-qualified workers, rapid economic growth is creating unskilled job opportunities in parallel. To some extent, the problem of unskilled workers has been resolved by Lithuania’s accession to the EU, as this has led to labour emigration, in particular of unskilled workers, and the fact that the minimum wage is too low to encourage employees to enter and/or to stay in unskilled jobs. On the other hand, it can be argued that the social partners do not pay enough attention to this problem: trade unions because they do not have sufficient resources, and employers because they are not interested in assuming the costs of labour force training. It is to be hoped that Lithuania will be able to avoid unskilled labour problems due to its particular circumstances and the continuously rising educational level of the labour force. (Inga Blažienė, Institute of Labour and Social Research).