WP 92 - An overview of women's work and employment in Azerbaijan

An overview of women’s work and employment in Azerbaijan

ter growth may be attributed mainly to the increase of informal work. For our project, the fall of the LPR
of the 15-24 aged girls is of interest. This decrease cannot fully be explained by their growing enrollment
in secondary education: between 1999 and 2006 female enrollment in secondary education grew by only
2.9%points (website Nationmaster; UIS 2010; see also section 2.7.2). Most of the “missing numbers” would
have added to the “individuals engaged in house keeping, taking care of children and of elderly / sick family
members”, though the share of this group recently seems to decrease. In 2003 they accounted for 44% of
the female economically inactive population, against only 36% in 2006 (Republic of Azerbaijan 2005, 57;
SSC via AGIC website).

2.3.2. Unemployment

Between 2006-2008, the unemployment level of Azerbaijan calculated on Labour Force Surveys stabi-
lized at 6-7%, coming from 10-13% in 2000-2003 (Republic of Azerbaijan 2005). Table 4 reveals the unem-
ployment averages for 2006, by age and gender.

Table 4. Unemployment by gender and by age group, % of economically active population, Azerbaijan,
2006

Source: SSC via website AGIC

Most likely these figures provide a structural picture that has not essentially changed since. Overall, the
differences between male and female rates are marginal. Important for the DECISIONS FOR LIFE project
is, as the table reveals, that the categories by far most affected by unemployment were the youngsters aged
15-24, girls and young women slightly more (jointly on average nearly 17% unemployed over the year), than
their male peers (15.5% unemployed). According to the detailed statistics, nearly half of all unemployed
—of both genders—consisted of first job seekers. This suits well with the fact that unemployment declines

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