According to data as of January 1 of this year, the number of employees (employment contracts) in Azerbaijan amounted to 1 million 741.8 thousand people.
Yeniavaz.com reports with reference to published official data, 899.1 thousand people worked in the public sector, and 842.7 thousand people worked in the non-state (private) sector.
For comparison, a year ago - on January 1, 2023, the number of hired workers in Azerbaijan was 1 million 733.9 thousand people, of which 903.3 thousand people were in the public sector, and 830.6 thousand people were in the non-state sector.
As can be seen from the figures, the total number of hired workers over the past year increased by 7.9 thousand people or 0.5%. During this period, the number of people employed in the public sector decreased by 4.2 thousand people or 0.5%, and the number of people employed in the non-state sector increased by 12.1 thousand people or 1.5%.
Information disseminated by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population states that the number of employment contracts increased by 62.5 thousand contracts, or 3.6 percent, compared to 2022 and reached 1 million 809 thousand.
While the number of hired workers increased by 7.9 thousand people over the past year, the number of employment contracts increased 8 times - 62.5 thousand.
Economist expert Allahverdi Aydin, commenting on such a sharp difference between the data released by the two institutions, argues that the increase in employment contracts was not due to an increase in the number of employees in the labor market, but due to the conclusion of more than one employment contract with one employee:

Allahverdi Aydin

“As is known, Article 3 of the Labor Code of the Azerbaijan Republic states that an employee is an individual who works at the relevant workplace by concluding a written employment agreement (contract) with the employer individually. In addition, the information published by Statistics Committee also states that employees are persons working under an employment contract. In this case, we see that an employee also means an employee who has entered into an employment contract. If as of January 1 there were 1 million 741.8 thousand employees in the country, then the presence of 1 million 809 thousand employment contracts as of January 1 means that more than one employment contract was concluded with 67.2 thousand people. According to information disseminated by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, the increase in the number of employment contracts is associated with comprehensive measures taken to increase employment opportunities and legalize informal employment. However, the information released by the State Statistics Committee on the number of hired workers refutes this information from the ministry. The Statistics Committee actually found that the ministry provided false information. If, as the ministry says, the number of employment contracts has increased due to increased employment opportunities and the legalization of informal employment, then in parallel the number of hired workers should increase. But we see the opposite.”
On this occasion, the head of the public relations and communications department of the National Security Agency, Fazil Talibov, responded to Yeniavaz.com’s request as follows:
“According to Article 58 of the Labor Code, in cases where the terms of the employment contract allow it, an employee may engage in labor activities in other workplaces by concluding an employment contract both at the main place of work and as a replacement after the established working hours at the main workplace.
An employment contract with him/her is also concluded when working in an additional workplace on a substitute basis. At the same time, as you can see, not one, but two employment contracts are registered in the electronic system in the name of the employee, for the main and additional places of work.
This is also due to the fact that the number of employment contracts exceeds the number of employees with wages (i.e. with an employment contract).
In recent years, as a result of measures to combat informal employment and expand employment opportunities, wages have been steadily increasing.
As the number of employment contracts increases, there is also a steady increase in the number of hired (i.e., contract) workers. If you look at the Goskomstat data on the number of hired workers, you can clearly see this growth dynamics.”

Elnur Ali