The Anti-Corruption Agency has studied the status of the work done by the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction and its subordinate organizations to combat corruption, as well as corruption offenses committed in 2022 in employment and labor relations.

The study showed the presence of some corruption factors and risks that need to be eliminated. In particular, in accordance with the requirements of the Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. RP-5177 of July 6, 2021 ‘On additional measures for the effective organization of anti-corruption activities’, heads of internal anti-corruption control units are hired through an open competition held by government bodies and organizations jointly with the Anti-Corruption Agency. However, the heads of these units in the regional departments of the Ministry were appointed to positions contrary to the requirements of the Resolution.

In order to identify existing corruption risks in the field of employment and labor relations and take measures to eliminate them, the Agency analyzed corruption offenses committed in 2019-2022, based on statistical data, court decisions and other data provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Supreme Court.

The analysis revealed the presence of the following systemic problems:

• high human factor when determining the amount of the fine imposed for violation of labor legislation;
• insufficient openness of the financing mechanism for allocating subsidies to low-income families and a smaller number of decision-makers;
• lack of an effective control system for overpaid wages to employees from budgetary funds;
• lack of clear measures of responsibility of employees of organizations for job advertisements in the mehnat.uz information system, as well as abuse of powers of officials in the field of employment and labor relations when hiring;
• lack of complete digitalization of the processes for processing unemployment benefits and the lack of a clear control mechanism in this area;
• lack of complete digitalization of the processes of allocating and distributing preferential loans to citizens as part of the implementation of government programs and the high level of the human factor in these processes;
• possibility of misuse of funds allocated from the budget by falsifying documents related to receiving child benefits or when registering as a low-income family or unemployed through the abkm.mehnat.uz information program;
• lack of an open system of accountability to the population regarding the activities of the heads of district employment centers;
• lack of workers with higher education and qualified specialists due to low wages at the lowest level of the system;
• lack of a systematic mechanism for monitoring the activities of labor inspectors and their implementation of control measures.

In connection with the above, the Agency submitted a statutory notice to the Ministry to take measures to eliminate existing shortcomings and corruption risks in these areas.

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The Anti-Corruption Agency