THEY WOULD BE UNEMPLOYED IF THEY STAYED
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[06:38 pm] 15 January, 2009
In the period between 2002 and 2007, 9.7% of the population of Armenia
has migrated. In that period, each migrant has traveled to a foreign
country 2 times a year on average, which means that there have been
460,000 migrants from Armenia during the past six years. These
are the results of the comprehensive study on returnee flows and
reintegration challenges in Armenia presented today at the OSCE Office
in Yerevan. The publication on return migration to Armenia covers the
period 2002 to 2008, and is the third in a series of studies conducted
by the Office following reports on labour migration conducted in 2005
and 2007. The analysis, based on in-depth interviews with returnees,
revealed that in the period between 2002 and 2007, most external
migration involved labour migrants leaving mainly for Russia. The
majority returned to Armenia at least once, but such returns were
predominantly temporary. The employment statistics in Armenia show
that some 30% of migrants would be unemployed if they chose to
stay in Armenia. The findings also showed that many of the problems
connected with the reintegration of returnees in Armenia stemmed from
the mismatch between their expectations and the reality they found
back in Armenia. The study was prepared by the local non-governmental
organization Advanced Social Technologies, with OSCE Office support
and the active participation of the Migration Agency of the Ministry
of Territorial Administration
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
