Azernews.Az

By Ofeliya Afandiyeva

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population will develop 400 occupational and qualification standards, local media reported citing the ministry on March 19.

According to the provided information, the draft proposals will be prepared in accordance with the Employment Strategy Action Plan for 2020-2025 approved by the presidential decree of February 13, 2020.

As Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population reported these occupations are key professions of the labor market in key sectors of the economy.

The Action Plan envisages the improvement of 500 occupational and qualification standards in 2020-2025. The standards will be discussed and adopted in the sections formed by representatives of the relevant institutions, leading enterprises and associations launched in different sectors of the economy.

Occupational and qualification standards serve to ensure that vocational education meets the requirements of the labor market, increasing the competitiveness of the workforce and the formation of human resources in accordance with international standards.

Some 289 occupational and 63 qualification standards were developed and put into operation by employers within the framework of the “Social Protection Development” project of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population and the World Bank in 2010-2015.

Moreover, as of cooperation with the World Bank, the ministry has been implementing the "Pension and Social Assistance Reform in the Republic of Azerbaijan", "Pension and Social Security Project".

Employment Strategy Action Plan aims at forming a long-term state employment policy aimed at ensuring effective employment on the basis of the country’s demographic aspects, development prospects and economic priorities of the country.

The strategy aims to ensure the transition of employment policy from extensive to an intensive phase, to increase the employment level of the population, to provide full employment, to support decent work and increase labor productivity.

The implementation of the strategy is also aimed at supporting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as the development of the labor market.

The strategy envisages decreasing unemployment rate to 4 percent, bringing official employment (except of the agricultural sector) to 80 percent, reducing the percentage of young people (aged 15-24) who are not employed in the labor market and in education to 15 percent, as well as increasing the number of regional vocational education centers to 10.