UNEMPLOYMENT LEVEL DROPS TO 7.2 PERCENT
Armenpress
Jan 16 2007
YEREVAN, JANUARY 16, ARMENPRESS: By the end of 2006 December
unemployment level in Armenia dropped to 7.2 percent from 7.7 percent
12 months before.
However, it rose in some provinces, particularly in the southernmost
Syunik and Lori in the northeast.
Sona Harutunian, head of the National Employment Service, an
affiliation of the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, said 102,000
jobless people were registered at local employment centers by December
31, 2006 and 84,000 had the unemployed status which means they were
eligible to unemployment benefits.
She said last year employment centers across the country found jobs
for 8,268 people and another 10,250 were offered temporary jobs.
Mrs. Harutunian said though the unemployment level dropped, the
share of young men and women seeking jobs increased 26 percent, but
she explained it by a legislative change that revoked a previously
effective provision which gave the unemployed status only to people
with at least 12 month job record.
Almost half of people who found jobs last year were in the capital
city Yerevan. Mrs. Harutunian said there were vacancies for workers
in Yerevan remaining unfilled for months. In regions there is a demand
fro doctors and school teachers.
The unemployment allowance has risen from 3,900 drams in 2003 to
12,000 Drams.