Cuba will slash more than half a million excess jobs in the public sector in 2011, the Central Labor Union of Cuba (CTC) said on Monday.
In early August, Cuban President Raul Castro announced plans to gradually slash as many as one million jobs (some 20% of Cuba's work force). Some experts view the move as a step towards the transformation of Cuba's communist economic model into a more market-oriented one.
Cuban Economy Minister Marino Murillo has said however that that the country's economy will remain planned and centralized, although he admitted that the government could loosen its tight control over small businesses.
"In line with the process of actualizing the economic model and economic plans for 2011-2015, it is planned to cut more than half a million jobs in the public sector and employ [the redundant workers] in the private sector," the CTC said in a statement.
According to Cuban government statistics, about 75% of the country's labor force is employed by the state.
RIA Novosti
