Unemployment Rises in Azerbaijan on the Background of Economic Problems

Many businesses in Azerbaijan are closing or reducing jobs because of the decline in oil prices and the past depreciation of the national currency. But given the political complexion of the economic recession, some companies prefer not to disclose information about the number of people who lost their jobs.

Azerbaijan’s sudden economic collapse affected all sectors of the economy. Among them are the state enterprises such as “Azerenergy”, “Azerigas” and “Azercel”.

In addition, eight banks have closed since last month after the Central Bank canceled their license. Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfas Garayev said “some museums have been closed because of unproductiveness,” and warned that a number of organizations in the cultural sector which received assistance from the state will also be closed.

Expert of the Baku Economic Reforms Scientific Research Institue Parviz Heydarov noted in this regard that until recently huge incomes from energy sales helped to distract public attention from the unemployment issue.
Since 2004 Azerbaijan spent 50 billion manats (about 33 billion USD) on promoting the economic development of the regions. The results were not sufficient. And now the government has no resources to continue the financing on the same level, as the oil price is 70% lower than it was two years ago.

Mass protests broke out in January as a result of unemployment and inflation brought upon by the depreciation of Azerbaijani manat.

A job fair which took place in Azerbaijan’s second largest city Ganja (population 313200) turned into a mass demonstration of tens of thousands of people, when they learned that actually there are no positions available. The police suppressed the demonstration and cancelled the fair.
In order to control the widespread discontent, the Azerbaijani government is discussing new initiatives in the agricultural sector, where 37% of the working population is employed.
Azerbaijan is mainly negotiating on possible ways of cooperation with Ukraine, China and Japan.