ILO initiatives to ensure employment of forcibly displaced discussed  in Armenia 

ArmInfo. Deputy Minister of Economy Sevak Mikaelyan received a delegation of the International  Labor Organization (ILO).

During the meeting, the ILO delegation presented a new initiative  aimed at preventing informal employment, ensuring decent working  conditions and protecting workers' rights.

In addition, the initiative is aimed at creating high-productivity  jobs and expanding social protection coverage.

Attaching importance to cooperation with the ILO, Sevak Mikaelyan  proposed discussing new program initiatives aimed at developing the  entrepreneurial capabilities of forcibly displaced persons and  ensuring their stable and formal employment in Armenia.

in July of this year, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of  Armenia David Khachatryan reported that as of the reporting date,  about 20 thousand forcibly displaced citizens of Artsakh had found  employment in Armenia.

As a result of the full-scale military aggression of Azerbaijan on  September 19 of this year against Nagorno-Karabakh, which was  preceded by a total blockade for 9 months, about 102 thousand  citizens of Artsakh were forcibly displaced to Armenia. However, in  total, as a result of the Azerbaijani aggression, starting with the  44-day Artsakh war of 2020, 150 thousand Artsakh residents were left  homeless.

According to the Statistical Committee, in the first quarter of 2024,  the unemployment rate in Armenia was 15.5%, while a year earlier for  the same period the unemployment rate was slightly lower - 13.7%. At  the same time, the employment rate in the country also decreased  accordingly - from 50.9% in the first quarter of 2023 to 48.7% for  the reporting period. According to the source, during the reporting  period, the number of employed population was 1,116.4 million people,  which is 1.2% lower than the figure for the previous year, and there  were 204.4 thousand unemployed people, with an increase of 13.8% over  the year.