ArmInfo.Unemployment in Armenia in the Q2 of 2019, compared with the same period in 2018, decreased by 2.6%, reaching 17.7%, the Facebook page of the Armenian government reports.
Over the same period, according to the source, the number of employed people grew by 1.6% - up to 47.9%.
According to statistical data, as of January 1, 2019, according to the new methodology, the number of employed people reached 915.5 thousand people (with a y-o-y growth of 1.4%) or 45.4% of the economically active population (versus 44.7% in 2017), while there were 234 thousand unemployed people (with a y-o-y decline of 1.1%). According to the old methodology, the employed population reached 1073.8 thousand people (with a y-o-y growth of 6.1%) or 53.3% of the economically active population (against 50.1% in 2017), and there were 208.4 thousand people unemployed (with a y-o-y decline of 4.8%). The unemployment rate in Armenia, calculated according to the new method, decreased in 2018 to 20.4% of the average y-o-y from 20.8% in 2017. And in the calculation according to the old method, a decrease in the unemployment rate in 2018 was recorded to 16.3% of the average y-o-y from 17.8% in 2017. To note, the new calculation method does not take into account household workers. In the Q1 of 2019, the unemployment rate in Armenia, calculated by the new methodology, amounted to 21.9% compared to 21% a year earlier.
According to the forecast of the Central Bank of Armenia, the unemployment rate in 2019 will be 21.7% (calculated using the new methodology), with a subsequent y-o-y-decline in the medium term by 0.1-0.2 percentage points to 20%. This forecast is given in the Central Bank's Monetary Policy Program (MPP) published at the end of September for the Q3 of 2019, which also noted an improvement in the forecast for GDP growth for 2019 - 6.7-7.2% (against the previous 5.9- 7.4%).