Armenia`s unemployment rate drops to 16% in 2020

ArmInfo.In 2020, the unemployment rate in Armenia fell to 16% from 17.1% in 2019. This is evidenced by the data of the RA Statistical Committee.  

The quarterly change in the unemployment rate in 2020 was as follows: 19.8% in the first quarter decreased to 17.5% in the second quarter, then rose again to  18.1% in the third quarter and then rushed down to the aforementioned  16%. The same dynamics of the unemployment rate, but in higher  percentages, was observed in 2019, when 21.5% in Q1 decreased to  16.5% in Q2, then slightly increased to 17.1% in Q3, remaining at  this bar and in the final quarter.

At the same time, according to statistics, the level of employment in  the country, increasing during the I-III quarters of 2020 from 45% to  49.2%, decreased in the IV quarter to 47.6%, repeating the dynamics  of 2019, when the growth in I-III quarters from 44.9% to 51%,  followed by a decline to 47.8% in the IV quarter. According to the  source, as of January 1, 2021, the number of employed people reached  967.3 thousand people (with an annual decline of 1.3%) or 47.6% of  the economically active population, and there are 184.8 thousand  unemployed as of the reporting date, which is 8.7% less than a year  ago.  More recent data - for February 2021, indicate that 89.9  thousand people were in search of work, of which more than 63  thousand were unemployed, and according to both indicators, annual  growth was recorded by 4.9% and 1.9%, respectively. Moreover, there  are much more women among job seekers - 58.7 thousand (with an annual  growth of 3.5%) than men - 31.2 thousand (with an annual growth of  7.6%). And the same situation is among the unemployed: there are 40.8  thousand women (with an annual decline of 0.2%), and men - 22.2  thousand (with an annual growth of 5.8%).  In February 2021, the  demand from employers for labor decreased by 48.6% per annum - to  1,674 people, which in turn significantly increased the load on 1  vacancy - by 2.1 times - to 54 people. In the reporting month, 607  citizens managed to find a job (an annual decline of 58.5%) or 0.7%  of the total number of job seekers. Of the employed 221 people -  these are men (an annual decline of 42.9%), and 386 people - women  (annual decline by 64.2%). Note that according to the forecast of the  Central Bank of Armenia, updated in March, the unemployment rate in  Armenia will be 18.6%, and in the medium term will decrease to 18.3%  due to the gradual neutralization of the impact from the economic  recession and the coronavirus pandemic. And the World Bank, in its  March updated forecast, indicated that the poverty rate among the  widest stratum of disadvantaged residents of Armenia, who are able to  spend no more than $ 5.5 per day on themselves daily, will amount to  48.3% in 2021 (against an estimated 51.7 % in 2020) and will decrease  to 45% in 2022.