Armenian government aims to reduce unemployment rate to below 10% - Kerobyan

YEREVAN, December 22. /ARKA/. The Armenian government aims to reduce the unemployment rate in Armenia to below 10%, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said today.

According to official statistics, the unemployment rate in the second quarter of the year was 11.7%.

"In 2023, about 44 thousand new jobs have been created, the average wages have grown and the poverty rate has decreased from 26.5% to 24.8%," Kerobyan said while presenting a report on the ministry's performance in 2023.

The IMF said in a December review that the drop in unemployment was facilitated by economic growth.

Armenian Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan stated earlier that the unemployment rate has been decreasing every year and has never been at such a low level before. 

The poverty rate in Armenia dropped to 24.8% in 2022 from 26.5% in the previous year, having decreased by 1.7 p.p., according to the National Statistical Committee. The monthly poverty line in Armenia in 2022 for an average adult was 52,883 drams ($121.4), the upper line was 63,060 drams ($144.7), the lower line was 42,708 drams ($98) and the extreme line was 29,934 drams ($68.7).

Extreme/food poverty in 2022 was 1.2% (1.5% in 2021), the lower poverty line was 11.6% and the upper line was 41.3%.-0-