Unemployment or shortage of brain?

"Of the 4.6 million able-bodied population of Azerbaijan, only 32% have a specialty obtained in higher and secondary special educational institutions, as well as colleges. Every second high school graduate does not consider it necessary to enter any educational institution for obtaining professional skills. " This statistics was voiced at the conference held last week on the topic "Use of professional standards in Azerbaijan for the development of the workforce" by Salim Muslimov, Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Population.

According to him, neither education nor professional qualities and experience of

unemployed and job-seeking citizens meet the requirements of the modern labor market, which is one of the main reasons for unemployment in the country. Today recruitment for companies is carried out according to new professional and qualification standards, developed with the participation of international experts. Not all applicants for vacancies meet these requirements.

At the conference was discussed the situation in the labor market in all aspects. As it turned out, the imbalance between the supply and demand for this or that specialty is related to the overproduction of personnel in various profiles, the low level of training of personnel in higher education institutions and colleges, the training of young people in unpromising specialties

a reduction in production capacity due to technological processes. The conclusion is that the real unemployment rate in the country, according to independent experts, is not 5%, according to the State Employment Service, but about 14-15%.

And the state, experts say, needs to take urgent measures. However, it is interesting to listen to the opinion of employers in this regard. Here we see completely different picture: there are vacancies, there are no specialists. It is very difficult to find professionals. Paradoxes continue...

Recruiters are unanimous in opinion: now employers prefer educated, initiative, executive, with work experience. In a word, professionals. Whom does the State Employment Service offer employers? According to statistics, the Azerbaijani unemployed person is a person between the ages of 30 and 49, without higher education and knowledge of languages. There is also a gender aspect of the problem: more than half of the unemployed are middle-aged women. They are good to work as a salesman in a store, a cleaner in a company or a handyman at a construction site; and unfortunately they are not good for such positions as a hotel manager, an accountant, or a food technologist.

There is an almost revolutionary situation when the lower classes cannot find a job, and the top does not want to provide it, because "there is no such work". And he state in the face of the State Employment Service can hardly be reproached - it does something to stabilize this situation: there are free courses on professional reorientation and other state programs.

Another interesting fact is why in a country with a very high percentage of an able-bodied population, where universities and colleges graduate more than 35,000 annually, is it difficult to find a good worker? Not the freight forwarder who carries the goods to the shops, not the courier, but the one who can work with his head, prepare a business project, compile a financial report, make a correct diagnosis. Everyone knows the personnel problem in the IT industry. But there are not enough programmers. Against the background of the financial crisis, there was a shortage of a risk manager, a business analyst, a financier, a marketer, an advertiser. On a painful topic correspondent Turan managed to talk with employers from various sectors of the economy. And that's what they said.

The first. Low professional level and qualification of applicants. The education received by them in the country's universities (with the exception of two or three higher schools) does not meet the current market requirements. This is especially true of techies. Our universities produce theoretical specialists who are not at all fit for real work. At the same time, young people do not have financial ambitions: they want to earn a lot and immediately - from 1,000 manats and above.

The second. The outflow of quality labor to more attractive countries - Turkey, Kazakhstan, Russia, where you can earn three or four times more for a similar job. It is difficult say something against such an argument.

Consequently, Azerbaijan is not competitive in terms of wages, which also causes a negative balance of labor migration. So, according to the Migration Policy Institute, today 1 million 147 thousand immigrants from Azerbaijan live in other countries. 767 thousand compatriots live in Russia, 82 thousand in Ukraine, 48 thousand in Kazakhstan, 20 thousand in the US, as much in Uzbekistan, 19 thousand in Germany and 17 thousand in Turkey. But the official statistics state that fewer people leave the country - 1,700 people in 2016 against the 3,200 people who came in for permanent residence.

Experts, based on the results of independent studies, with skepticism refer to official statistics.

According to economist Samir Aliyev, the methodology for calculating the migration flow does not allow to reflect the real situation in this area. There are no factors that would stimulate the flow of specialists to the country.

"There are Germany, Czech Republic, Russia, with whom we can not compete ever. The outflow of workers and brains from Azerbaijan will continue. This is typical for countries with a transitional economy. The problem is that the government does nothing to keep people on the spot - neither wages, nor housing, etc. There is no balanced approach to the employment problem. There are only loud statements, which often do not reflect real needs," stated the economist.--0--