Azerbaijan.US
Azerbaijan’s banking and non-bank credit sector is facing a growing mismatch between education and labor market needs, despite a large number of economics graduates entering the workforce each year.
Job listing platforms show that vacancies in the financial sector remain among the most common, particularly for credit specialists, accountants, auditors, and finance officers. However, many of these positions remain unfilled.
According to the State Statistics Committee, around 43,000 people graduated with economics-related degrees in 2025. Yet the labor market continues to show clear imbalance: while employers report open positions, many diploma-holding young professionals struggle to find jobs.
HR specialist Emin Hasanov says that although vacancies attract a high number of applicants, few meet employers’ expectations. The core issue, he notes, is not the lack of candidates but the insufficient level of practical training among graduates.
Education expert Ilkin Maharremov echoes this view, pointing out that university programs in finance and economics remain heavily theory-based and do not fully align with the demands of modern banking. As a result, graduates often possess academic knowledge and formal qualifications but lack job-ready, applied skills.
Experts argue that closer cooperation between banks and universities – including structured internships and joint training programs – is essential to address the problem. Without such reforms, the skills gap in the banking sector is likely to persist.
The same paradox, specialists add, is increasingly visible in other sectors of the economy as well.
