Armenia to revamp benefits system placing focus on employment
YEREVAN, December 27. /ARKA/. The Armenian authorities are planning to change their approach to providing benefits to the working-age population. These plans were announced by Armenia's Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Narek Mkrtchyan, at a government meeting during the discussion of the “Employment Strategy for 2025-2031”.
In particular, the minister stated that when an application for benefits is submitted, the possibility of employment will be considered first, followed by the issue of providing benefits.
"We have about 30,000 working-age citizens who are part of the benefits system. These individuals, while receiving assistance, do not have disabilities and are not responsible for people whose care would limit their ability to enter the labor market. We will offer various employment programs, and if a person continues to refuse job offers, we will begin to reconsider their support," he said.
According to Mkrtchyan, if a person refuses to work, it indicates that the family has income at least equivalent to the consumer basket. As a result, the benefit will be reduced by 10,000 drams each month until it reaches the value of the consumer basket. After this, the beneficiary may be removed from the system altogether.
As Mkrtchyan recently stated in an interview with Armenia's Public Television, the system that has been in place for over 20 years consistently makes people dependent on the state in terms of social support and does not encourage employment. He added that the government's goal of eliminating extreme poverty in the country by 2026 includes the introduction of a new system for assessing vulnerability, which will encourage individuals to seek employment.
On December 27, the Armenian government approved the Employment Strategy for 2025-2031, with the primary goal of combating unemployment. The implementation of the strategy is expected to lead to increased employment and a reduction in poverty.
According to the National Statistical Committee, Armenia's poverty rate, calculated using the average line, was 23.7% at the end of 2023, a decrease of 1.1 percentage points compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, the extreme poverty rate for the past year stood at 1.1%, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points from 2022.
