OREANDA-NEWS. February 11, 2008. The Gomel oblast has approved an employment programme 2008. According to the document, the oblast will create more than 21,000 new working places, or 2,000 up from last year, the Deputy Chairman of the Oblast Committee for Employment and Social Security, Alexander Semenov.

The target will be achieved by means of extending existing manufactures and creating new companies, he said. The Gomelsteklo company in the town of Kostukovka will create 300 new jobs after launching a new polished glass workshop. The town of Loyev will employ 100 people at a brick works, which will be constructed this year.

Special attention will be given to retraining courses for the jobless, first of all, in the industries which lack labour forces, for example, the construction sector.