Armenia grappling with unemployment ‘disease’

30 JULY 2015, 15:40 (GMT+05:00)

The unemployment problem in Armenia continues to deepen, aggravated by the country’s economic crisis.

The number of unemployed people is increasing day by day, irrespective of the age, education and capabilities of the people.

A high level of unemployment has recently been observed among the educated youth in Armenia.

Graduates complain about the discrepancy between their education and the market demands, while employers complain about the lack of appropriately qualified graduates.

A study by the World Bank that is conducted in low-income countries shows that the labor market in Armenia and Georgia is suffering from lack of experienced employees and highlighted the fact that there is a high unemployment rate among university graduates in both countries.

Armenia’s labor market has seen an increase in the mismatch between supply and demand over many years.

Gratuitous funding issued to encourage business ownership, adult training programs for in-demand professions, as well as additional guarantees for people with disabilities, have yet to provide the intended results.

The actual number of unemployed people, however, might be twice as the figure provided by the government. It is difficult to estimate the extent of unemployment in the rural population, since as owners of private land, they are considered as employed.

Over 90 percent of the unemployed are concentrated in urban areas – cities such as Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzore.

The level of the unemployment in Armenia has increased significantly from the year prior. The unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2015 was 19.1 percent, registering an increase of 1.3 percentage points in comparison with January-March months of last year, Armenian media reported.

Every fifth economically active resident in Armenia is unemployed, according to a recent report of the country’s National Statistical Service, indicating the highest level of unemployment for the last 12 quarters.

It is not difficult to see that Armenia’s unemployment rate tops the list of countries of the Eurasian Economic Union when referencing data provided by the Eurasian Economic Commission.

Armenia’s National Statistical Service reported that the number of unemployed in the country for the first quarter of 2015 amounted to 259,500 people, showing a 2.2 percent increase over the same period in 2014.

The economically-active population in Armenia decreased by 4.8 percent totaling1.6 million people during the reporting period.

The unemployment rate in the cities for the first quarter of 2015 was at 28.9 percent versus 25.4 percent for the first quarter of 2014.

The rising tendency of unemployment among Armenia’s 2.9 million-population has become a pandemic problem that threatens to generate social dysfunction in society.

The latest statistical data shows that 32 percent of the country's overall population lives in poverty. Having a direct link with this widespread poverty, unemployment affects the poorest and most vulnerable segments of society the greatest.