The active population in figures

Working conditions

Legal weekly duration

40 hours

Retirement age

61 years

Working contracts

The labour contract is governed by legal provisions and to a lesser extent by collective agreements and individual negotiation.
The formalism of labour contract is very rigid. The procedures for layoff and hiring are rather flexible.

Cost of labor

Minimum wage

9,752 tengue (80.40 USD) in 2007. This amount does not facilitate a comfortable living in Kazakhstan.

Average wage

Average monthly gross earnings in Kazakhstan is KZT 63,570 (USD 417).

Social contributions

Social security contributions paid by employers: 31.5%.
Social security contributions paid by employees: Every employee should pay 10% of his salary to pension fund whose present withdrawals benefit them and they should also contribute for their own withdrawal.

Social partners

Social dialogue and involvement of social partners

The employees are protected against any anti union discrimination by the law. But violations to this law have taken place (union members have been dismissed and threatened). Big enterprises have also created conditions so that creation of a union and collective negotiations are rendered impossible.

The law guarantees the right to strike but its application is legally highly controlled. The government has drawn a list of strategic industries and companies in which strike is authorised according to certain conditions. Generally, the employees can only go on strike if a dispute has not been resolved through existing arbitration channels. The employees should necessarily give the employers an advance notice of 15 days for the strike.

Unions

Federation of Unions

Unionization rate

32.8 % in 2006 (as per Federation of Unions)

Labor regulation bodies

Labour Ministry