Employment

The first houses were built for the purpose of protecting their owners from the weather and, therefore, were very simple - a roof to keep off the rain or snow, and walls to keep out the wind.

The buildings erected now can be divided into two broad classifications: they are either for housing or for industrial purpose.

As far as the material is concerned, the building can be divided into stone (or brick), wood and concrete types. The brick is an artificial material made of clay then burnt to harden it. The natural stone is used for footing and foundations for external walls carrying the load. The buildings made of stone or brick are durable, fireproof and have poor heat conductivity.

Materials and structural forms are combined to make up the various parts of a building, including foundations, load-carrying frame, skin and interior constructions. The building also has mechanical and electrical systems, such as lifts and escalators, heating and cooling systems, and lighting systems.

A building has two main parts, the substructure (the part below ground) and the superstructure (the part above ground). The substructure is usually called the foundation. It includes the basement walls, even though these may extend above the ground.

Both the substructure and the superstructure help to support the load (weight) of the building. The dead load of a building is the total weight of all its parts. The live load is the weight of the furniture, equipment, stored material, and occupants of a building. In some regions, the wind load of a building is important if the structure is to withstand storms. The snow load and earthquake shocks may also be important factors.

Foundations are the chief means of supporting a building. They carry both the dead and live loads. There are four main types of foundations: (1) spread, (2) pier, (3) pile, and (4) mat or raft.

Spread foundations are long sections and rectangular slabs of reinforced concrete that extend beyond the outer edges of the building and under its walls and columns. Such foundations are not so firm as those based on solid rock. The footing areas in contact with the soil must be of sufficient size to spread the load safely over the soil and to avoid excessive or uneven settlement that would cause walls to crack or doors to bind.

Pier foundations are heavy columns of concrete that go down through the loose topsoil to a bed of firm rock. This bed may also be sand, gravel, or firm clay. If the bed consists of firm clay, the pier is usually belled out (enlarged) at the base, to increase the bearing area.

Pile foundations are long, slender columns of steel, concrete, or wood. Machines called pile drivers

hammer them down as deep Pic. 2 Most skyscrapers are built on rock and

as 200 feet (61 meters) to a have pile foundations and skeleton frameworks

layer of solid soil or rock.

These columns transmit the building load to the supporting soil. Most skyscrapers are supported by rock foundations.

Mat foundations, also called raft foundations, are thick slabs of reinforced concrete that span the whole area beneath a building. They are normally used in poor soil conditions where it is not possible or economical to drive piles or piers down to good soil or rock. In effect, they enable the building to "float" on the soft soils.

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Employment

Since individuals typically earn their incomes from working for companies whose requirements are constantly changing, it is quite possible that at any given time not all members of a country's potential work force will be able to find an employer that needs their labor. This would be less problematic in an economy in which such individuals had unlimited access to resources such as land in order to provide for themselves, but when the ownership of the bulk of its productive capacity resides in relatively few hands, most individuals will be dependent on employment for their economic well-being. It is typical for true capitalist economies to have rates of unemployment that fluctuate between 3% and 15%. Some economists have used the term "natural rate of unemployment" to describe this phenomenon.

Depressed or stagnant economies have been known to reach unemployment rates as high as 30%, while events such as military mobilization (a good example is that of World War II) have resulted in just 1-2% unemployment, a level that is often termed "full employment". Typical unemployment rates in Western economies range between 5% and 10%. Some economists consider that a certain level of unemployment is necessary for the proper functioning of capitalist economies. Equally, some politicians have claimed that the "natural rate of unemployment" highlights the inefficiency of a capitalist economy, since not all its resources – in this case human labor – are being allocated efficiently.

Some libertarian economists argue that higher unemployment rates are in part the result of minimum wage laws, as well as in part the result of misguided monetary policy, and are not inevitable in a capitalist economy. They also claim that if the value of the productive capacity of a given employee is worth less to the employer than the minimum wage, that person will become unemployed, and therefore unemployment will exist whenever the legal minimum wage exceeds the true economic value of the least productive members of the labor pool. Likewise, if the amount of money a person can obtain on welfare approaches or equals what they could make by working, that person's incentive to work will be reduced.

Some unemployment is voluntary, such as when a potential job is turned down because the unemployed person is seeking a better job, is voluntarily living on savings, or has a non-wage-earning role, such as in the case of a traditional homemaker. Some measures of employment disregard these categories of unemployment, counting only people who are actively seeking work and have been unable to find any.

http://newsite.kazpravda.kz/c/1361528155

A meeting of the Council on regional policy and work with maslikhats in Majilis faction of Nur Otan was held in the Central Office of the party. The topic of the meeting was employment in the light of "Kazakhstan-2050 Strategy."

The meeting chaired by Majilis deputy Gulnar Seytmaganbetova took up the key aspects of the "Employment-2020" program that involves more than 200 thousand people. As a result the unemployment rate went down from 5.4 to 5.2% compared to 2011-2012. Many other positive aspects that allowed to support people, to give them a job, start a business, and to provide housing were named.

Unfortunately, there are still a number of unsolved problems in the area. However, work in this direction must keep going. MPs and secretaries of oblast maslikhats, including representative bodies of Astana and Almaty gathered there to resolve some complaints about bureaucracy and formalism.

In general, all directions of the "Employment-2020" were covered at the meeting. Vice-Minister of Labor and Social Protection Yergali Egemberdy detailed on their implementation.

The first direction - training and employment – covered more than 60 thousand people. 22 thousand of them got jobs. The least number of the employed is in Kyzylorda, Mangistau and Atyrau regions.

The second direction includes business development. More than eight thousand people have received micro-loans, that allowed to create over 12 thousand jobs. This year more than KZT 16 billion will be allocated for micro-crediting.

The third direction of the program is growth of labor mobility. 764 houses were constructed and 8,115 people were resettled. About 4 thousand of them are able to work, but 2,291 only are employed.

The fourth direction - rural areas’ development – is employment through an overhaul and current repairs of social facilities. A little more than 7 thousand Kazakhstanis got jobs. This year over KZT 24 billion is allocated for this direction.

In the end, the Council made recommendations on more efficient implementation of the employment program to the Government, local authorities and maslikhats.

Vladimir Osipo

Date: 2014-12-22; view: 1427