The global financial crisis has created serious obstacles to youth employment, chairman of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Azerbaijan, MP Sattar Mehbaliyev said at a workshop entitled "The Role of trade unions in the formation of youth employment policy", organized by the Confederation and the International Labor Organization on May 5.

"The main problem occurring during the crisis is that unemployment for young people is three times more than among middle-aged people," he said.

Mehbaliyev stressed that there are 1.2 billion young people in the world.

"Some 43 percent are engaged in useful work," he said. "Azerbaijan youth from 15 to 29 years old hit 29.3 percent of the population, while the employed - 24.4 percent. Youth unemployment is 10.9 percent. Some 13.9 percent of 130,000 unemployed young people have a university-level education, 54.6 percent - secondary education.

Mehbaliyev stressed that Azerbaijan joined a number of advanced countries, members of the Youth Employment Network - an initiative carried out with technical assistance from the International Labor Organization and UN support.

He stressed that the main priority of the employment policy in Azerbaijan is to reduce youth unemployment, and boost participation in entrepreneurship. A state youth program up to 2015 was adopted in the country. It aims to resolve the youth employment problem.

"The Confederation as a social partner actively participates in the activities in this direction," he said.