Welcome to North Korea (Photo report)

• 14.10.2011, 10:24

Since the start of the harvesting campaign, Hundreds of Minsk residents gather near employment centres at 5 in the morning to go to agricultural work.

They have already lifted potatoes, and now harvest carrots and beets to harvest cabbages later. The average daily pay is 25,000 Belarusian rubles, or about 3 dollars, “Salidarnast” writes.

Almost a half of the workers are pensioners and jobless.

Pensioners, some of whom did this job in previous years, try to find a legal source of extra earning.

“It’s really hard to live just on pension this year,” a woman says. “I can earn here a little. One needs to move, sitting without movement is not useful.”

Jobless people work temporarily waiting for the employment centre to find new jobs for them.

“There’s plenty of job offers for a million per month,” a man, who manages to remain tidy even in the field, says. “But how will I live on this money? It’s difficult to find a good job for good money even if you are a qualified worker.”

It’s hard to believe that all these people are Minsk dwellers working for 25,000 rubles per day. One person is allowed to work in the field up to three times a week in view of too many people wanting to earn 3 dollars a day.