Unemployment amongst the Azerbaijani women may significantly decrease if the Government of Azerbaijan introduces several items of the Finnish social protection system in the Azerbaijani practice. Last week a group of employees of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Labor and Social Protection visited Finland to become familiarized with the Finnish social assistance system.
The Finnish social system is considered as one of the best systems worldwide. The Finnish social provision system includes principles of equality. The highly developed system of taking care about infants provides an opportunity to the woman to widely participate in the labor activity. Nearly 70% of the infant mothers work in Finland. All children of pre-school age have the right for good daily care organized by the municipalities or the families may receive financial support for infants' care individually or for infants' care at home.
According to the official statistics, women make up nearly 50.8% out of the 51 857 officially registered unemployed people in Azerbaijan. Most of them have remained without jobs exactly due to the care about infants. Uncomfortable conditions in the State kindergartens and high payments for the individual care make the young mothers take care about their babies themselves lose the working skills and finally their jobs.
`The Labor Code of Azerbaijan still contains the control mechanism on observation of women rights to protect motherhood and sanction for violating the current legislation. The legislation stipulates rights for the working women to take pregnancy leave for a minimal period of 140 calendar days, along with payment of allowances and guarantee for protecting pregnant woman from dismissal. The legislation does not envisage refusing to conclude a labor contract with women due to pregnancy
Certain privileges in Finland such as leave for the parents and bonuses for the infants are universal. The amount of the bonuses depends on the number of children in the family. The bonuses for the children are paid until 18 year old. It is a tax-free profit. All Finnish citizens have the right for parent leave. In Finland the fathers have the right for separately paid off fatherhood leave for a period of 6-12 working days. Whilst the babies are born, the families receive packages which include dress and accessories for taking care about the babies or payment in amount of €140. The parents of the children under age of up to eight years may select kindergarten or care about infants.
Providing child allowances was ceased in Azerbaijan after granting targeted social aid since the beginning of 2006. This allowance had lost its previous assignment for long: its insignificant amount totaling AZN 1.8 ($1.53) did not assume any importance for the care about the children.
The current social assistance system in Azerbaijan bases on the Law on Targeted Social Aid. According to the Law, the right to receive targeted social aid belongs to those whose monthly average profits are lower than the criteria of need due to the reasons that do depend on them (unemployment, losing family provider, labor ability). Presently the amount of the targeted social aid has been defined in amount of AZN 40 ($47). If the monthly average profits of each member of a family are lower than this figure, then the amount of difference will make up the amount of the social aid to the family. The plus for each family member who receives targeted social aid will be bonuses in amount of AZN 5 by the end of the year.
The average size of the address social relief per one man is $17.6% per month and $84.9% per one family for 1 July 2007, the Labour and Social Protection Ministry reported. It means that once the parents of children are well-to-do then children will not receive any aid from the Government. Periodical payments are paid apart from extraordinary grants for birth of baby (AZN 30 or $35.3 is paid in Azerbaijan) in Finland. Children's allowances make up € 1,200 per year for a family with one child, € 2,526 with two children, €, 4098 with three children and € 5,916 with four children. Some € 2,064 has been paid for each following children per month.
The essence of the social security in Finland, which has been formed over the past decades, is guaranteeing of funds for living through assisting the comprehensive system for major provision and privileges, paid in proportion to incomes (or former wage), which enables to maintain the level of consumption in different extreme situations.
Social security guarantees stability in the society and justice, as well as equality of citizens. Almost all housing economies receive benefits or use social services and health services. Finland is a country where the incomes are distributed equally, if the indices are the incomes under disposal. The level of poverty is the lower compared to many world countries. For instance, poor families comprise 17% in the United States, 14.3% in Spain, 12.7% in Italy, 12.4% in the UK, 8.3% in Germany, 8% in Belgium, 7.7% in Austria, 7.3% in the Netherlands, 6.5 in Sweden, 6% in Luxembourg, 5.4% in Finland (data are given for 2004).
Preventive measures are the central part of Finnish social security. The purpose is to prevent and decrease various risks and problems. Thus, use of the most expensive services and maintenance facilities can be decreased to minimum. They try to liven up the citizens in care of their own health, to decrease smoking and drinking. The main spheres of preventive measures are health - health-improving work with citizens, health protection at job, maternity protection, as well as prevention of citizen's dis-adaptation. The most significant part of the service sectors are primary health protection and specialized medical treatment, daily children care, aged people care, service for invalids, allowances, as well as children protection. The allowance is the final maintenance way. Public (state and municipal) health protection services are wide spread. Usually physicians have private practice additionally in free time.
The largest part of social security is presented as general legislative insurance. Social insurance includes retirement insurance, accident insurance, and unemployment insurance. Pensions and doles consist of the main part and the part proportionate to incomes. A profound part of Finnish social security is implemented through private insurance organizations, though the system is obligatory and legislative, and that is a peculiarity of Finnish social security system. All employees, including farmers, shall have obligatory insurance in case of occupational injury and diseases which occurred in result of labour activities. Trade unions have very dramatic effect in Finland. Some 80% of Finns are members of trade unions. Unlike Azerbaijanis, membership in a trade union goes without saying for most of Finns.
The Finnish security guarantees on employment is comprised of numerous types of privileges: unemployed benefits equal to salaries, basic unemployed benefit amd support to labor market. However, the State Statistics Committee reports that over the first half of 2007 only 2,456 of 52,142 offcially registered unemployed, or 4.7%, received unemployed benefits in Azerbaijan. The amount of this benefit made up AZN 62.5 or $73.6.