ArmInfo.Since 2018, the number of officially employed workers in Armenia has increased by 63.2 thousand, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan announced this on September 10 on his Facebook page.
"For the first time, the number of officially employed citizens exceeded 601 thousand 524 people. The number of workers in the private sector amounted to 403 thousand 358 people. I understand people who question these figures, because they are so good that it is not easy to believe in them," Pashinyan wrote. Meanwhile, according to the data of the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, the unemployment rate in Armenia, calculated by the new method, which does not take into account those employed in the household, amounted to 21.9% in the 1st quarter of 2019 compared to 21% a year earlier. During the reporting period, the number of unemployed in Armenia amounted to 253.6 thousand people, with y-o-y growth of 6.7%. Men account for 60% or 152.2 thousand people in the total structure of the unemployed (with y-o-y growth of 14.4%), and women - 40% or 101.4 thousand people (with a y-o-y decline of 2.9%).
According to independent observers, the data voiced by the prime minister may relate not so much to the creation of new jobs as to the improvement of tax administration, which reduces the number of shadow workers in the country.
To note, according to the forecast of the Central Bank of Armenia, the unemployment rate in 2019 will be 15.9% (according to the old methodology), with a subsequent annual decline in the medium term by 0.1-0.2 percentage points to 15.5% (against previously expected 15.6%).