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Armenian premier instructs Economy Minister to cut jobs and raise wages in public sector
YEREVAN, October 25. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, speaking Thursday at a regular Cabinet meeting, said that today Armenia faces so-called structural unemployment.
He instructed Economy Minister Tigran Davtyan to carry out analysis and to make every effort to increase productivity for cutting jobs and raising wages.
The premier said that the country is now in want of highly qualified specialists in all the sectors of the economy.
“This, first of all, applies to the information technology sector, where the shortage of high-qualified specialists hobbles development,” he said adding that Armenia’s IT sector is growing 15-20% every year, and more than 300 companies already operate here.
Sargsyan said that he has already made an arrangement with the education minister to increase the number of IT students whose tuition fees are paid by the government.
“The chemical industry and the city municipality highlight similar problems,” he said.
The prime minister said that an average salary in the country rose 5.3% in September – in the private sector it is higher than that in the public sector.
Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan said that the municipality-subordinated organizations in charge of enlarging green spaces in the city and cleaning areas need 300 workers with AMD 80,000 average monthly salary.
“It is a big problem to find workers now,” he said.
According to the latest statistical reports, the average monthly salary in Armenia reached AMD 121,065 ($295) in August 2012 after growing 4.1% since July and 6.6% since August 2011.
The lowest-paid workers were in culture and rest areas in July. Their average monthly wage was a little higher than 66,200 drams and in the services sector it slightly exceeded 76,800 in August.
The education sector’s average salary was higher than AMD 88,000, and that of agriculture and forestry sectors was about AMD 87,400.
The National Statistical Service of Armenia says industrial enterprises’ employees enjoyed the highest average salary in July – in mining industry it was AMD 262,234 – 10.5% higher than in July a year earlier, and in processing enterprises AMD 125,238 – a 5.8% year-on-year increase. -0-
18:36 25.10.2012
