Press Conference on the Nine-Month Results of the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction
2026-10-28 09:00:00 / Press conferences
Poverty Rate Falls to 3.6%
A press conference on the results of the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction’s nine months of work was held at the Media Content Production Center under the Administration of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. First Deputy Minister Marat Jurayev presented the main results.
During the reporting period, the poverty rate fell from 5.8% to 3.6%. The number of poverty-free mahallas rose from 1,435 to 3,627. 429,000 families in the Social Registry received 581,000 services aimed at increasing their income, and 440,000 families whose income rose were removed from the registry.
Employment and vocational training
Over nine months, 824,000 citizens were placed in permanent jobs, 4,141,000 people were helped to increase their income, and the informal employment of 980,000 citizens was formalized.
A total of 96,400 people were enrolled in vocational training. Of the 59,200 graduates who completed training, nearly 45,000 were provided with jobs. Through the voucher system, vouchers were allocated to nearly 130,000 people, of whom more than 95,000 enrolled in training. Of the 56,500 who completed their studies, more than 43,000 were provided with jobs.
In addition, 7 professional standards covering 23 occupations and positions were developed, along with the Decent Work Country Program for 2026–2030, an atlas of future professions, a methodology for assessing “green” employment, and a national system of labor market indicators.
Protecting workers’ rights
The State Labor Inspectorate conducted 15,100 oversight activities and identified 36,100 violations. To address violations, 5,666 written orders and 247 submissions were issued, and administrative fines of 22.3 billion soums were imposed on officials.
Through the inspectorate’s intervention, more than 832.1 billion soums in wages were recovered for nearly 35,000 workers, and the labor rights of 4,467 citizens were restored. Around 29.5 billion soums were recovered under claims filed in court over wages. Based on court rulings on reinstatement, 158 citizens were reinstated.
Occupational safety and forced labor
692 work-related accidents were specially investigated. As a result, 758 citizens were affected, including 205 who died. More than 16 billion soums in compensation were recovered under court rulings.
47 cases of forced labor were identified, and fines of 1.5 billion soums were imposed on the officials responsible.
Appeals, digitalization, and international cooperation
In the first nine months of this year, the ministry and its system organizations received 63,315 appeals. This is 24,756 (28%) fewer than in the same period last year. Of these, 45,143 (71%) were granted and 17,791 (28%) were resolved through legal clarification.
Through the “Online Mahalla” electronic platform, positive decisions were made on 7,730 subsidy applications and 8,835 loan applications. As a result, 64.1 billion soums in subsidies and 79.8 billion soums in loans were disbursed. This represents growth of 58.4% in subsidies and 31.4% in loans compared with last year.
The ministry expanded cooperation with the International Labour Organization, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the Asian Development Bank, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), and the German international cooperation organization.
Agreements were reached on assessing professional qualifications based on international standards, AI-assisted career guidance, training specialists for the “green” economy, and developing the social insurance system.
Under these initiatives, grants and technical assistance were allocated to 14 promising projects aimed at supporting women’s entrepreneurship, creating decent jobs, protecting labor rights, and ensuring gender equality.