Record Number of Real Jobs Recorded in 2021, But Life Has Not Improved: Pashinyan

In 2021, the number of registered jobs in Armenia reached a record high. This was announced today by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a meeting of the Republic's government.

“In December 2021, a total of 659,471 jobs were registered in Armenia, which is an absolute record in the history of the third republic. This means that never before have there been so many registered jobs in Armenia,” he said.

Pashinyan also noted that this number exceeds that of the same month in 2020 by 37,629, compared to 30,758 more than in 2019, and 70,978 compared to 2018. The Prime Minister assured that there can be no manipulation in this statistics, as these jobs are real, and wages and taxes have been paid for them.

“If necessary, we can identify all 659,471 employees individually, by name,” he stated.

According to him, official data also indicates an increase in the average monthly wage in Armenia; in December 2021, it was 277,661 drams, which is 30,000 drams more than the average wage in December 2020, 43,000 more than in 2019, and 54,000 drams more than in 2018. Furthermore, the statistics for 2021 shows a 9% decrease in the number of employees earning below 150,000 drams.

“Unfortunately, we cannot say that these changes have improved the well-being of our citizens because during 2021 we experienced significant inflation, with December 2021 showing a 7.7% increase compared to December 2020. This is more than we had anticipated in the state budget,” Pashinyan said.

He also emphasized that inflation is a global issue, but expressed hope that the Armenian government would be able to bring it within the projected range this year. If the government is also able to achieve the planned 7% economic growth, Armenia will have the opportunity to enter a mode of prosperity.