A seminar on “Elimination of the informal economy, youth employment, the role and responsibilities of trade unions” was held in Baku on March 6-7 with the support of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and organized by the Azerbaijan Trade Union Confederation (ATUC). The event was opened by ATUC First Deputy Chairman Ilyas Aliyev. He noted the urgency of the seminar, noting that 70-80 million young people aged 15-29 are unemployed on the planet. This means that 30-35% of young people worldwide are unemployed. In Azerbaijan, this figure is close to 13.5 percent. In each country, the relevant agencies are doing different things to prevent the problem. However, the organization is not yet unanimous. Each organization tries to cope with this work separately.
İ. Aliyev said that the views expressed here should be noted in the form of proposals. Because our goal is for young people to take their place in society. Therefore, the issues discussed should be presented to the public.
The ATUC First Deputy Chairman also spoke about the importance of the work of the Tripartite Commission on Social and Economic Affairs, which includes representatives of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the Confederation of Trade Unions of Azerbaijan and the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs. He also noted the conclusion of the General Collective Agreement between the social partners for the next two years, and the issues envisaged here.
I.Aliyev said that vocational education institutions should work closely with entrepreneurs: “It is very important to conduct internships for young people to master their chosen professions. Foreign language courses should also be taught in these educational institutions so that in the future our employees can go and work in other countries.
Vice President of the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Vugar Zeynalov spoke about the problems in the field of youth employment. Unfortunately, young people in our country are not so inclined to vocational schools. They prefer to study at more universities. To change this different approach, educational activities should be organized among students in secondary schools.
ILO Coordinator for Azerbaijan Yashar Hamzayev spoke about the work done by his organization in the field of cooperation with our country: “One of the main priorities of the cooperation program is the elimination of youth employment and informal employment. One of the first conditions is the development of social dialogue. The Republic of Azerbaijan has ratified many ILO conventions, including Convention No. 122 on employment policy. The role of trade unions in conducting social dialogue should be emphasized.
Ikhtiyar Abdullayev, Senior Adviser of the Department of Vocational Orientation and Cooperation with Employers of the State Agency for Vocational Education, spoke about the improvement of the regulatory framework within the reforms in the vocational education system, the teaching of new specialties in accordance with labor market requirements. He spoke about the work done to rationalize and optimize vocational education institutions.
Elnur Suleymanov, head of the employment policy and demography department of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, spoke about the elimination of the informal economy, the problem of youth employment and ways to solve them. He also informed about the work done by the newly established Commission for Regulation and Coordination of Labor Relations in this area. Suleymanov said about 900,000 people work informally in the country.
Namig Huseynov, head of the ATUC’s analytical research department on cultural and social issues of workers, spoke about the trends and challenges of youth employment in Azerbaijan, the position of trade unions.
He said that changes in the labor sector also affect the growth of youth unemployment. The development of technology, artificial intelligence and robots will lead to the loss of 7 million jobs in the global labor market in the coming years, but there will be up to 2 million new vacancies to implement innovations.
It is said that the changes will affect most women.
He also noted that the ATUC has signed three general agreements with the government and employers over the past five years. He also drew their attention to the solution of existing issues. At the same time, the ATUC provides a number of recommendations to member organizations to address these issues.
According to forecasts, in the future the country will need more specialized work in the field of communications, information technology, electronics.
The event, chaired by ATUC Secretary-Chief Hasan Jafarov, continued with group discussions. The groups discussed youth employment, new jobs, decent wages, social benefits and a number of issues.