PM Pashinyan and Economy Minister Kerobyan disagree on average monthly salary size

YEREVAN, January 25. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan disagreed today on the size of the average monthly salary in the country.
Speaking at a government session, Pashinyan said that the average monthly salary in December 2023 grew to AMD 356,180. "This is higher than the average salary in May 2018 by 179,741 drams or 101.9%," the prime minister emphasized.
Kerobyan disagreed, saying that the average monthly salary in the country is about 260,000 drams, up 15% from the previous year. He explained the discrepancy by New Year bonuses paid by public and private sectors to their employees.
According to official statistics, in December 2023, the average monthly gross salary was 264,000 drams, up 15.5% from 2022.
According to Pashinyan, in December 2023, the total wage fund amounted to 264.2 billion drams (about $660 million). He said it was higher by 167.5 billion drams or 173% compared to December 2018 and by 31 billion compared to December 2022.
"In December 2023, 43.3% of employees received a salary of up to AMD 150 thousand, up from December 2018 by 60.4%. Another 40.6% received a salary between AMD 150 thousand and AMD 500 thousand compared to 31.2% in 2018 and 16.1% received more than 500 thousand drams, up from 8.4% in 2018.
Pashinyan also said a historical record was set in Armenia in terms of registered jobs in December 2023, when their number amounted to 741, 726, which is 193,737 more than in May 2018.
According to Pashinyan, the number of registered jobs in December 2023 was up 37,306 or 5.3% from December 2022. --0--