Azerbaijan eyes to expand scope of self-employment program
By Narmina Mammadova
Azerbaijan has been implementing self-employment program since 2016.
Expansion of the scope of self-employment program in Azerbaijan is expected in 2019, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population told Trend.
As many as 7,700 people were involved in the program this year, according to the ministry.
Next year, the process of attracting unemployed and job-seekers to the self-employment program will continue as part of the next stage of the program, the ministry said.
"The new financial source, which appeared with the adoption of the law "On unemployment insurance" dated Jan. 1, 2018, will ensure significant expansion and sustainable implementation of the self-employment program," the ministry added.
Those who complete training within the program and whose business plans are considered successful will be provided with the necessary goods and materials, the ministry said.
"So far, business plans of 7,260 people were assessed as successful, and 1,273 of them were already provided with assets," the ministry noted.
The ministry stressed that the introduction of the self-employment program in Azerbaijan will have a positive impact on the quality of labor resources in the country.
The program will contribute to increasing labor productivity and economic activity of the population, increasing family income, creating additional jobs, as well as increasing the number of taxpayers and social insurance payments.
The self-employment program is being implemented on the basis of the decree of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev "On additional measures to ensure self-employment of the population" dated 2016.
The first programs to develop and support self-employment appeared in Europe in 1970-1980.
They were focused primarily on the unemployed, people with disabilities and young people who are looking for an opportunity to apply their forces in business. The strategic goal of these programs was to initiate the creation of individual enterprises by the unemployed themselves, by providing them with technical assistance, loans, grants and various benefits, as well as opportunities to capitalize social assistance funds or unemployment benefits.
Self-employment is the inclusion of unemployed people in the social structure of society by giving them the opportunity to work on special conditions - conditions of self-organization.
At the same time, it is a mechanism of social interaction between society and a person.
Self-employment allows unemployed citizens to exercise their right to socially useful occupation.
At the same time, the society acquires the initiative workers, who abandoned the passive-dependent expectation and began active creative work, realized themselves as individuals.
For an unoccupied person through self-employment, an opportunity is provided to become an entrepreneur, a master of his/her own business, and for society - to involve large masses of unoccupied citizens in a socially useful matter.
In general, self-employment can be described as a special type of participation of people in socially useful work, based on their personal initiative, independence and responsibility, aimed, as a rule, at receiving labor income and ensuring self-realization.
At the same time, the state, allocating certain funds, may count on the development of those sectors of the economy that appear to be the most significant for the country.
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