In Armenia, private companies and organizations to be involved in  workforce training and further hiring

ArmInfo. Work continues in Armenia to develop an Employment Strategy. Deputy Minister of Labor  and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ruben Sargsyan announced this at a press conference on September 8.

He noted that the Strategy will become a political document of the RA  government in this direction.  Specialists from the Ministry of Labor  and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and  Sports, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and  Infrastructure, and the Ministry of Economy are involved in the  development of the Strategy. The document will present the results of  labor market research, trends in its development, forecasts for  economic growth rates, and actions of government agencies.

The Deputy Minister emphasized that indicators are now being  developed, after which a budget calculation will be made. Since the  Strategy has not yet been approved, the government considered it  important to implement a number of pilot programs, including the  demobilized employment program and the "Payments depending on the  results of active employment" program. Both programs are being  implemented jointly with the private sector.

In turn, Narek Manukyan, head of the UNDP ImpactAim accelerator,  speaking about the "Payments depending on the results of active  employment" program, noted that it provides for the involvement of  private companies and organizations in training the workforce and its  further employment, for which the state will make appropriate  payments. The total duration of the program is 16 months. Both  private companies and foundations and public sector organizations are  eligible to take part in it. When applying for participation in the  program, they will have five months to train future employees in a  wide range of specialties, after which they about 6 more months are  given for the employment of citizens, and another 4 months to ensure  the reliability and stability of the workplace. At the same time,  companies and organizations choose their own specialties. When  submitting applications, they must indicate the specialties in which  training will be carried out. Thus, there will be real opportunities  to establish a connection between the labor market and the required  specialties. Companies and organizations in their applications will  have to indicate the amount of government contributions for each  student, which they will receive immediately after completing the  training process, as well as the amount of payments after completion  of the entire program. The profile of specialist training is quite  broad, which will add elements of flexibility to the program.