Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The State Employment Service under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection provided 103,028 unemployed and job seekers with suitable works in 2019.

Vocational training courses were organized in the country throughout the year to increase workforce competitiveness.

Last year, up to 3,400 people were involved in such courses, including 3,168 people by the State Employment Service, 227 people by the Center for Professional Rehabilitation of Youth with Disabilities No. 1 of the State Social Protection Fund.

Thanks to the "Ishsizin DOSTU" (friend of the unemployed) program, some 38,000 unemployed and job seekers were provided with paid work on the basis of an employment contract.

In 2019, jobs fairs were held in 56 regions and cities of Azerbaijan, in which 1,324 enterprises took part and 15,183 vacancies were presented. As many as 3,411 people received referrals for suitable work, 298 people were registered to participate in vocational training courses, and 311 people, of their own free will, were involved in paid community service.

During this period, the State Service educated up to 135,000 young people about the job market. They were also provided with services in choosing a profession in accordance with the requirements of the labor market.

In order to provide an effective package of social services, the Agency for Sustainable and Operational Social Security (DOST Agency) was created for the first time in Azerbaijan. Under this agency, the DOST Center was opened in May 2019 in Yasamal district, Baku.

The main spheres of the agency's services include labor, employment, social security, appointment of pensions, social benefits, targeted social assistance, disability assessment, disability determination, banking services, lawyer consultation, insurance services and etc.

The citizens will be provided with 126 services in the fields of employment, labor, disability and social protection based on a single-window principle.

Over 38,000 Azerbaijani citizens benefited from the services of the new center, and the level of their servicing covered 96 percent.

It is planned to create 31 DOST centers in Baku and the regions, five of them in Baku, two in Sumgayit and Ganja, the rest in other regions of the country in 2019-2025.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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