GYUMRI IN FIRST PLACE BY UNEMPLOYEMENT INDEX
Noyan Tapan
Jun 14 2006
GYUMRI, JUNE 14, NOYAN TAPAN. 19,700 unemployed persons are currently
registered at the Gyumri territorial job center. 16,111 of them
have the status of an unemployed. Gyumri is in first place among
Armenian cities by the unemployment index. Many of local residents,
who graduated from 1-2 higher educational institutions in the Soviet
time and have all necessary professional skills, are out of work
today. Former directors and engineers have become traders.
Misak Hayrapetian, who worked as a mechanization expert at the
former Lenshintrest for many years, now sells newspapers to support
his family.
"Previously I worked with pleasure, but now jobs are hard to come
by, so I have to sell papers and lottery tickets," he said, adding
that this occupation does not bring a stable income. "Everything
has changed, prices have gone up, only human life has remained the
cheapest thing," he noted.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) considers persons engaged
in such activities as the working poor who constitute nearly half
of the world’s working population. According to ILO’s estimates, in
order to reduce their number, states must create 43 mln jobs annually.