70 Thousand Cut Jobs Fully Restored and Increased by 6,600: Pashinyan

During a government session, you announced that the number of jobs has increased by 6,600 this year and that the average salary per person has increased by 13,500 drams. Previously, there was information indicating that approximately 70,000 jobs had been cut due to the coronavirus. Does this mean that the 70,000 have been restored plus an additional 6,600?

This question was posed to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today by Edmon Marukyan, the leader of the "Bright Armenia" faction in the National Assembly. In response, Pashinyan stated that the reduction of 70,000 jobs occurred in April, and these jobs have been completely restored. According to the data from July, compared to July 2019, the number of jobs has increased by 6,600.

“People present reports regarding jobs and pay taxes for them. This means that these figures are directly based on reports that cannot come from thin air, and they imply a tax obligation for those presenting reports. These are income tax reports. I will instruct that those analyses be provided to you as well, which have been given to me. The human factor is excluded there because it is an automated digital system,” he said.

Pashinyan acknowledged that it is presumed that some of these jobs involve positions that have simply moved from the shadow economy to a formal status: “From 2018 to 2020, a huge number of jobs have emerged in Armenia, but it's unclear how many of them were created from scratch and how many shifted from the shadow economy into the tax system.” He noted that the reduction of 70,000 jobs in April was one of the factors that predetermined the subsequent actions of the government in the context of the coronavirus. “We believed that our country cannot remain in a dormant state,” he added.