YOUTH EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE OF COUNTRY’S ECONOMIC GROWTH, MP SAYS

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Dec 12 2007

YEREVAN, December 12. /ARKA/. The employment of young people is a
guarantee of the country’s economic growth, said Chairman of the
RA Parliamentary Standing Commission on Science and Youth Affairs
Hranush Hakobian during the first national conference on the youth
employment. "The youth employment is an issue of Armenia’s future
development," she said.

According to Hakobian, the issue should be considered from the
viewpoint of global market economy. She believes business relations
between economic entities and educational institutions are still
weak. At present, Armenia’s universities do not follow modern
economic trends while preparing future specialists, according to
Hakobian. In Armenia, the triangle "market-economy-universities"
is rather passive. "A research carried out a few years ago showed
that about 25% of children of school-going age do not go to school,"
she said.

Hakobian stated that the RA Government undertakes all the necessary
measures to change the situation. Particularly, every year AMD 1bln is
allocated from the state budget for specialized schools and colleges.

The Government also focuses on higher educational institutions and
the best testimony of this is the adoption of the new RA Labor Code,
according to Hakobian. She believes the Government should take a
differentiated approach while solving the problems of the rural and
urban youth, as well as take into account modern migration processes.

Hakobian pointed out that unemployed young people often face such
problems as alcoholism, drug addiction and tobacco smoking.

According to the RA National Statistical Service (NSS), 799,361 people
living in Armenia are at the age of 16-30 (24.3% of the population).

Armenia’s population totaled 3mln 226,700 on October 1, 2007 against
3mln 220,800 in the corresponding period in 2006. 84,000 Armenian
citizens were unemployed in January-October 2007.