‘They are ready to hire teenagers for the whole summer, they can earn up to 120k rubles in total’
Where Tatarstan teenagers can earn extra money on summer holidays
Since June of this year, new rules for the employment of minors have come into force in Russia, which greatly simplify the procedure for attracting teenagers to work. In Tatarstan, it is planned to provide 14 thousand schoolchildren with work through employment centres alone. Read more about what vacancies are offered to minors and how much employers are willing to pay — in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
“I want to save up for a new iPhone”
Diana Timofeeva will soon turn 16. The girl graduated from the 9th grade, passed the OGE, and is going to study at school further. There has not been graduation party and the graduation ceremony yet, and Diana decided to find a job for the summer. Friends told her that even schoolchildren are employed in the youth clothing showroom, but with the written permission of their parents.
“I was already thinking about work last year, I know that at my age teenagers most often work as promoters, but then it didn't work out. This year I decided to take up the search seriously. I passed an interview and spent a trial day in the store. I like everything so far. I want to save up for a new 13 iPhone and generally have pocket money, and not ask my parents for it," the girl said.
“Plus 2,250 rubles to the salary”
As the Ministry of Labour, Employment, and Social Protection of the Republic of Tatarstan told Realnoe Vremya, every year minors aged 14 to 18 are employed for the summer and other holidays within the framework of the programme “Promoting employment of the population of the Republic of Tatarstan for 2014-2025". For example, in January-May of this year, 479 teenagers found temporary work. However, this is less than one percent (0,3%) of the total number of citizens of this age living in the republic.
In general, by the end of 2023, it is planned to employ 14 thousand teenagers. If a minor gets a job through employment centres, he is entitled to payment of material support. This year, 31,2 million rubles have been allocated for these purposes.
The employer pays teenagers employed through the labour exchange 2,250 rubles for the month worked, in addition to salary payments, the press service of the department stated.
The main types of work in which children can be involved are auxiliary work during repairs and landscaping, auxiliary work in agriculture (planting, weeding, growing, and harvesting crops), auxiliary work at industrial enterprises, in the zoo, work related to the maintenance of cultural monuments, memorials, and so on.
Currently, 3,053 vacancies are presented on the Unified Digital platform in the field of employment and labour relations “Work in Russia” at the request of “work for minors”.
As they explained in the ministry, an employment contract with a teenager who has reached the age of 14 can be concluded only with the consent of one of the parents or a person replacing him (trustee). The job offered to a teenager should belong to the category of light work that does not cause harm to health. The duration of working hours of adolescents in accordance with Articles 92 and 94 of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation is established:
- for employees under 16 years of age — no more than 24 hours a week,
- for employees aged 16 to 18 years — no more than 35 hours a week.
The duration of daily work (shift) may not exceed for employees:
- between the ages of 14 and 15 — 4 hours,
- between the ages of 15 and 16 — 5 hours,
- between the ages of 16 and 18 — 7 hours.
“These are new opportunities”
Amendments to the law on the employment of teenagers open up new opportunities for them, Tatarstan Minister of Youth Affairs Rinat Sadykov believes.
“We have a long-term request from a large audience of teenagers who are now ready to work. To do this, they have the strength, intellectual abilities and, most importantly, the desire! Every year, we receive dozens of stories from 16-17-year-olds who could not find a job or were employed in the “gray labour market”, to put it mildly, not in accordance with the Labour Code. New amendments to the law will remove some restrictions and open up new opportunities for our teenagers," the head of the Ministry of Youth Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan said earlier.
According to the new amendments, now a teenager who has reached the age of 14 and has a general education can enter into an employment contract with the written consent of one of the parents to perform work without harm to health. If a young person is just getting a general education, then working conditions should not interfere with the development of the programme. For orphaned children or those left without parental care, the permission must be issued by the guardianship authority or another legal representative.
“This process, of course, is not fast, it takes time for the labour market to restructure and be able to be more loyal to the work of teenagers, but the approval of the law itself is already a big step," Sadykov noted.
“In total, they can earn up to 120 thousand rubles”
The Republican Centre of Student Labour Detachments state institution, which also creates school labour detachments, can help find a suitable vacancy. According to the head of the press service of the republican headquarters of student teams, Nadezhda Vasilyeva, teenagers are attracted as auxiliary workers, their salary will be about 7,500 rubles a month. 283 minors will be employed in the Almetyevsk district alone this summer.
In Zainsk, as part of the project “Camp of my Yard”, children work as animators of yard camps. 126 teenagers will get jobs at 19 sites in the city over the summer. Each of them will earn about 5,000 rubles a month.
The centre offers promoter vacancies for Kazan minors. Children are hired from the age of 14. The salary is 300-800 rubles per hour. Also, from the age of 16, they can get a job at Gorvodzelenkhoz in Kazan. The teenagers are engaged in landscaping the city (planting trees, beautifying flower beds, mowing lawns).
“Our guys have been working as service personnel (maids, administrators) in Kazan hotels and inns for several years. Teenagers are hired from the age of 16. Last year, girls worked as maids at Tasigo and Azaliya Hotel. For this summer, a contractual campaign with enterprises is still in the process," the centre stated.
“Employers are still wary of working with teenagers”
According to the expert, employers are still wary of working with teenagers. Nevertheless, the situation is improving every year, the market is becoming an employee's market, not an employer's.
“The most common tasks in which teenagers can try themselves are the following: the field of courier deliveries, advertising or chat managers (of telegram channels, bloggers), sales consultants, promoters, baristas, waiters," the interlocutor of the publication gave an example.
Since this month, the hiring of teenagers has been legally simplified in Russia. The main change is the exclusion of the consent of the guardianship and guardianship authorities from the package of documents for the employment of a minor. Now the consent of one of the parents or a legal representative is enough to conclude an employment contract. The consent of the guardianship and guardianship authorities is required only for the employment of socially unprotected categories of minors: orphans and children left without parental care.