Wednesday, July 13 2022 18:57
Alina Hovhannisyan

In Q1 2022, unemployment rate in Armenia decreased to 14.8%

In Q1 2022, unemployment rate in Armenia decreased to 14.8%

ArmInfo. In Q1 2022, the unemployment rate in Armenia decreased to 14.8% from 16.7% in the same period a year earlier, but compared to the indicator for Q4 2021  (14.5%), it was slightly higher. This is evidenced by the data of the  RA Statistical Committee.

At the same time, according to statistical data, the employment rate  in the country increased in Q1 2022 to 48.4% from 46.8% in Q1 2021  (against 50.1% in Q4 2021). According to the source, as of April 1,  2022, the employed population reached 1.1 million people (with a  y-o-y growth of 3.3%), and as of the reporting date, there were 186.4  thousand unemployed people (with a t-o-y decline of 10.2%).    According to statistics, as of June 1, 2022. 78.6 thousand people  were looking for job (decline by 10.8% per annum), of which over 53  thousand are unemployed (decline by 13% per annum). Moreover, there  are much more women among job seekers - 51 thousand (with a y-o-y  decline of 13.5%) than men - 27.5 thousand (with a y-o-y decline of  12.2%). And the situation is the same among the unemployed: there are  34.4 thousand women (with a y-o-y decline of 14.3%), and 19.4  thousand men  (with a y-o-y decline of 10.6%).  

In May 2021, the demand from employers for labor increased 1.4-fold  year-on-year - up to 2.603 thousand people, while the load per 1  vacancy decreased by 27.7% per annum - up to 34 people.  In the  reporting month, 980 citizens managed to find a job (y-o-y growth of  1.3-fold) or 1.2% of the total number of job seekers. 365 of the  employed are men (y-o-y growth of 1.3-fold), and 615 are women (y-o-y  growth of 1.2-fold). 

It should be noted that the Central Bank in its forecast for 2022  updated at the end of June, improved expectations for the  unemployment rate in Armenia to 14.8% decrease (from 15.3% in 2021),  against the previously forecasted increase to 16.7%. The expected  range for the medium term has also been revised down to 15-16%,  against the previously indicated 16.4-16.9%.  

It should be noted that an improvement in the unemployment situation  is also observed in the EAEU countries. Thus, according to the data  of the EAEU Department of Statistics, as of the end of May 2022, the  number of unemployed registered in the employment services of the  states of the Eurasian Economic Union (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,  Kyrgyzstan, Russia) amounted to 1,017.5 thousand people and decreased  by 41.1% per annum.  Thus, the number of unemployed in the EAEU is  1.1% of the labor force. In 2021, this figure was 1.9%.