UNEMPLOYMENT ARMENIA’S MAIN PROBLEM NEXT YEAR

ARKA
Dec 16, 2008

YEREVAN, December 16. /ARKA/. Unemployment will be problem number
one for Armenia next year, said Bagrat Asatryan, the ex-chairman of
the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA).

The RA Statistical Service reports that 90,800 jobseekers are
officially registered in Armenia, with 76,000 of them having
unemployment status.

"About 400,000 people left Armenia for Russian as seasonal workers
every year. The global crisis may cause them to return to Armenia,
but the authorities will not be able to create same-wage jobs for
them. So unemployment will be Armenia’s main problem next year,"
Asatryan told a press conference.

Sona Harutyunyan, Head of the RA State Employment Agency stated
earlier that the negative impact of the world economic crisis could
cause unemployment to rise by 1% at most in Armenia.

Asatryan said that most of the seasonal workers leaving for Russia
are employed in the construction, trade and services sectors, which
are the most vulnerable sectors. Referring to official statistical
data, he pointed out a decrease of 41% in the construction sector in
Armenia this October as compared with September.

According to Asatryan, resisting the global economic crisis and forming
a realistic picture of the impact the crisis has had on the national
economy will be the Armenian authorities’ priority task.

Vardan Bostanjyan, the Vice-Chairman of the Ec onomic Commission, RA
Parliament, member of the Prosperous Armenia parliamentary faction,
said that the resolution of prospective returnees’ employment problem
will require at least two or three years.