Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth

Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth
Many employers find that many workers lack important cognitive skills, such as 
languages, i.e., proficiency in English and Russian, and analytical thinking, and 
noncognitive skills, including accountability, self-motivation, and creativity 
(World Bank 2014). While foundation skills are learned at the early stages of 
life, these transferable cognitive and noncognitive skills are mostly developed 
at the secondary and post-secondary levels, both in and outside of school.
Labor force discouragement is a barrier to worker productivity. 
The 
International Labour Organization defines “discouraged” workers as those 
who are unemployed but not seeking work due to specific labor market-related 
reasons, such as the belief that no work is available to or suitable for them 
given their qualifications, or lack of information on where to look for work (ILO 
2014 and 2016). Labor discouragement is highest among male workers 20–24 
and 55–59 years old, and among females 16–24 years old (Figure 3.15). The 
presence of discouraged workers indicates that, in addition to a lack of jobs in 
the market, the matching of skills with jobs is also weak due to a lack of or an 
inefficient labor market information system (i.e., an “information failure”). In 
the current online labor market information systems, which are run by private 
job agencies (e.g., uzjobs.com and olx.uz) or state job agencies (e.g., mehnat.
uz), job advertisements are often limited or not updated regularly. 
Another cause of labor discouragement is the lack of formal skills training in 
schools and in the workplace, which leads to perceptions of skill inadequacy. 
Causes of labor discouragement, especially among women, include their 
disadvantaged situation in the labor market and the need to take care of young 
and old family members, which is not a common practice for men (Ajwad et 
al. 2014).
Note: The graph depicts the share of unemployed individuals (people looking for work) and discouraged 
individuals (people who are unemployed but not seeking work due to a specific labor market-related 
reason) in the total population by age cohort.
Source: World Bank and GIZ (2013).