Social sector in Azerbaijan (January-August 2013)

August was marked this year as the month of social innovation. This month, the President has signed a number of decrees and orders aimed at improving living standards and further strengthening the social protection of the population. In particular, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed an order to increase the monthly official (tariff) salaries of servicemen and civilian employees of the Ministry of Defense, who are not public servants.

The monthly official (tariff) salaries of servicemen and civilian employees of the Ministry of Defense, who are not civil servants, were increased by an average of 10 percent to strengthen social protection of civilian employees who are not civil servants and servicemen of the Ministry of Defense's departments, funded from the state budget.

Population's income

According to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee, in January-August 2013, the nominal income of the population totaled 22.033.3 billion manat, which is 7.4 percent more compared to January-August 2012.

Thus, during this period, the nominal income of the population per capita increased by 6 percent and hit 2.376.2 manat.

Major indices, characterizing income of the population

Source: State Statistics Committee

The population's income after paying all required fees and membership fees made up 20.026.1 billion manat, which is 7.5 percent more than in January-August 2012. Real income per capita increased by 6.1 percent to 2.159.8 manat.

Salary

The salary is one of the key social and economic indicators, which sufficiently enough characterizes the level of the prosperity of the working part of the population. According to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee, the hired employees' average monthly salary in Azerbaijan in January-July 2013 comprised 412.7 manat or 6.9 percent more than in January-July 2012.

As of this period, the average salary of temporary staff was 307.3 manat, while employees involved upon civil contracts - 319.6 manat.

Remuneration in the oil sector reached 1.554.4 manat per month, the non-oil sector - 382.6 manat, the public sector - 322.2 manat, the private sector - 536.5 manat.

The highest salary was observed in the mining industry, financial, information and communication, scientific and technical activity, as well as the construction sectors.

Around 98,600 people were involved in the Azerbaijani construction sector in January-July 2013. The nominal wages in the construction sector amounted to 609.5 manat, which is 7.3 percent more than in the same period of last year.

The average salary in state-owned companies amounted to 491.5 manat (increasing by 8.7 percent per year), private companies - 665.3 manat (with an increase of 3.2 percent).

The level of wages in the construction of buildings increased by 1.1 percent per year - an average of 557.9 manat, specialized construction (increased by 3.9 percent) - up to 741.3 manat, civil construction operations increased by 42.3 percent - up to 584.5 manat.

Labor market

As of September 1, 2013, the economically active population totaled 4.736 million people (50.65 percent of the total population), of which 4.497.3 million people were engaged in labour activity.

Thus, as of August 1, the number of hired employees hit 1.490.8 million people, including 894,600 people worked in the public sector, and 596,200 people - in private sector.

The number of people working in the oil sector amounted to 37,400 people, in the non-oil sector - 1.453.4 million people. Around 1.448.5 million people among hired employees work in non-agricultural sphere.

As of September 1, around 22.1 percent fall to the hired employees involved in the production spheres: 7 percent in construction, 6.2 percent in manufacturing industry, 2.9 percent in agriculture, forestry and fishing, 2.5 percent - in the mining industry, 2.1 percent - in the production and distribution of electricity, gas and steam, 1.4 percent - in water supply, waste recycling, 22.8 percent in education, 18.8 percent - trade, repair of vehicles, 8.8 percent - medical and social services, 6.6 percent in state governance and defense, social maintenance, 4.9 percent - transportation and warehousing, 3.8 percent - recreation, entertainment and arts, 3.7 percent - professional, scientific and technical activities, 1.8 percent - communication and information, 1.8 percent - financial and insurance activities, 0.8 percent - real estate transactions, 1.6 percent - administrative and additional services, 1.4 percent - tourist accommodation and food and 1.1 percent - other areas.

As of September 1, 2013, around 37,000 people were officially registered as unemployed in Azerbaijan, including 41.5 percent of women. The number of unemployed in the country increased by 0.6 percent since early 2013 (36,791 people as of early 2013).

The average unemployment benefit in Azerbaijan is 238.2 manat. It has been increased by 6.3 percent since early 2013.

As of September 1, 2013, the largest number of unemployed was registered in Baku (13,375 people, of which 335 people received unemployment benefits) and eighteen regions of Aran economic region (10,063 and 245 people respectively).

Distribution of unemployed individuals and those who receive unemployment benefit in towns and regions as of September 1, 2013 (people)

Source: State Statistics Committee

The state employment program for 2011-2015 is being executed now. The purposeful state policy in this area has allowed eliminating tension on the labor market. Thus, the State Employment Service tries to contribute to the employment of Azerbaijani population. The State Service provided about 270,000 people with jobs in 2003-2013. Over 30,000 people attended the professional training courses.

Pension and social provision

As a result of the recent dynamic of reforms, Azerbaijan's pension-insurance system is operating on the modern automated basis today. Thus, the number of electronic services rendered by the State Social Protection Fund has reached 21. According to the statistics from the "electronic government" portal, they are among the most frequently used by the population of the country.

The Fund assigned pensions in an automated regime to 356 people for the last two months, of which 135 people live in Baku and 221 - in the regions.

It was possible to automate the process of collecting compulsory social insurance contributions by using the individual account. Today, the individual registration system covers 2.62 million people. Thanks to the work of the system, the Fund managed to automate the assignment of pensions for the first time in the CIS and Eastern Europe.

Around 99.5 percent of pensioners in the country receive pensions through plastic cards. There are 701 ATMs in the country, as well as 159 were installed in the villages and settlements in the country's regions.

According to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, currently more than 310,000 people receive monthly social benefits in Azerbaijan.

There is the traditional system of social benefits in Azerbaijan. Their amount increased by 2.5 times over the past 10 years. The Institute of Grants under the Azerbaijani President was established for certain categories of citizens having special services to the country.

Over the past period, grants were assigned to 35,000 people, including members of the families of martyrs and disabled veterans according to various decrees and orders of the president.

More than 1,700 people and members of their families have received the lump sum allowances in connection with the work injury or death resulting from such injuries since 2008.

Over one billion manat has been spent since the targeted social assistance was issued in Azerbaijan (since 2006). According to the research in Khachmaz region and Nizami district of Baku, the amount for each family varies from 1,100 manat to 1,600 manat. The funds received within the "Self-Support" project were invested in economic activity. The monitoring confirmed that the time has come to pass from the targeted social assistance to "Self-Support" project.