2023-06-15 17:42:01
Individuals with official income in Azerbaijan transfer a part of their income to the Unemployment Insurance Fund every month. Thus, in the cases provided by law, the insured’s lost wages are compensated. 0.5 percent of the monthly salary of the employees is transferred to the said fund, and the employers pay that amount to the fund.
Last year, the income of the Unemployment Insurance Fund was 164.2 million manats. This is stated in the report to the parliament on the government’s activities in 2022. Last year’s income of the fund increased by 12 percent compared to 2021. By the beginning of 2022, the fund had 66.2 million manat funds that were not used from previous years. So, In conclusion, last year, the total income of the Unemployment Insurance Fund reached 230.4 million manats.
Costs were lower than expected
When the last year’s budget of the fund was approved, its expenses were planned to be 181.4 million manats. However, at the end of the year, the Unemployment Insurance Fund spent a total of 163.4 million manats – 18 million manats less than planned. According to official figures, In 2022, the Unemployment Insurance Fund made insurance payments to those who lost their jobs in the amount of 8.1 million manats – only 3.5 percent of their annual income.
Official figures show that the largest share of the fund’s expenditure went to self-employment activities. Last year, the fund spent 72.5 million manats in this direction. This means 44 percent of the total expenses of the Unemployment Insurance Fund during the year. The second direction in which the fund spends the most funds is related to the maintenance of employment agencies. 36.7 million manats were spent on the maintenance of employment agencies at the expense of taxes paid by salaried workers. The fund spent another 30 million manats of the collected funds to maintain the DOST agency.
Why can’t the unemployed receive funds?
The main reason that the funds paid by the fund for unemployment are small is that the conditions do not cover all the unemployed. According to the law, the unemployment insurance payment is paid in three cases:
– When the workplace (company) is liquidated;
– When the staff is reduced;
– When the employment contract expires.
However, official figures show that In Azerbaijan, 78 percent of workers resign voluntarily. But it should not be forgotten that such applications are not always written by the employee’s own will. Sometimes, employers force the employee to file an application and leave the job at will. Employees may be threatened with dismissal under separate articles if they do not write this application. Dismissal with those articles prevents those persons from finding work in the future. The vast majority of those released from work in the country seem to have left their jobs voluntarily, and since the legislation does not provide for insurance payments for such cases, they lose the chance to receive such payments from the beginning.
There are other conditions for receiving a payment from the Unemployment Insurance Fund. According to the applicable law, the person being dismissed must have a fixed-term employment contract and more than 30 months of insurance experience during the 36 calendar months preceding the start of unemployment. Otherwise, no payment is made. For civil servants, those periods are 24 and 12 months, respectively.
2 faiz
All these conditions allow a very small part of the unemployed to receive insurance payments. According to official figures, 302,200 people were unemployed in Azerbaijan at the end of last year. Mustafa Abbasbeyli, Chairman of the Board of the State Employment Agency under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, stated at the press conference on the results of 2022 that 6 thousand 333 people will receive unemployment insurance payments that year. So, Last year, only 2 percent of officially unemployed people in the country were able to receive unemployment insurance payments.
According to the law, the insurance payment is calculated in the amount of 50 percent of the lost average monthly salary, regardless of the insurance length of service. In the first two months, the insurance payment is 100 percent, in the third and fourth months, 80 percent, and in the fifth and sixth months, 70 percent.
The law on unemployment insurance states that the insurance payment cannot be more than the average monthly salary for the country in the previous year and less than the minimum insurance payment amount. According to the law, the level of the minimum wage is understood when saying the minimum insurance payment amount. In this regard, according to current indicators, unemployment insurance payments this year may vary between 345-830 manats. But in reality, the absolute majority of those who receive this payment are paid at the minimum wage level. If the recipient of the insurance payment has a child under his care under the age of 18 (full-time students and apprentices until graduation, but not exceeding the age of 23), 5 percent (but not more than 20 percent) is added to his basic insurance payment for each child.
Freedom radio
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