Half of Nakhijevan population migrates in search of work

Official data about the population of Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic is inflated twice, and the statements that there is no unemployment in the autonomy seem funny to any resident of the region, Commented Yashar Bagyrsoy the Chairman of the Department of Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan in the Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic in the publication on statistical data concerning the situation in the republic.

As the Azerbaijani news agency “Turan” reports, according to the State Statistics Committee of Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic, all the able-bodied population is employed in the region since 2008 and there is no unemployment here. By the beginning of 2013 all the 221 thousand able-bodied inhabitants of the autonomy had working places. Thus, the unemployment rate is at zero. Therefore, NAR is the only region in Azerbaijan, where there are no people who have registered as unemployed and receive unemployment benefits. In the third quarter of 2013, in Azerbaijan, 238 thousand unemployed people were estimated by the International Labor Organization methodology, of which 36.2 thousand have been granted an appropriate status in the beginning of 2014.

The official statistics of the autonomy states that from 1st October 2003 to 1st January 2014, 59,369 new jobs were opened there, of which 42.9 million (72.2%) are constants. Only in 2013 2260 new jobs were opened. According to NAR GCS, from 2010 to 2012 the number of employed people increased in Nakhijevan by 7354 and reached to 92,736 people. Besides that, more than 18 thousand people are engaged in entrepreneurial activities without creating a legal entity.

Officially, according to the January 1, 2014, 435,367 people living in NAR are estimated.

Yashar Bagyrsoy, Chairman of the Department of Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan at NAR told the “Turan” agency that the data about employment and population set out by the official agencies do not correspond to the reality. Not more than 220 thousand people live in the autonomy now. People are forced to leave their homes because of unemployment and look for a job in Turkey, Iran, Russia and Baku. Information about the opening of many thousands of new jobs can cause laughter with any Nakhijevan resident. The thriving business of ruling nomenclature prospers in autonomy during the recent years,” he said.

There is one more place in the world where there is no unemployment, and which is considered to be an offshore country, it is the Republic of Cyprus. But even here the total number of unemployed fluctuates within a couple of tens of thousands of people among population of 850 thousand, “Turan” writes.

Panorama.am