From Armenia in brief: Armenian labor market feeling the crunch of the world financial crisis

by Maria Titizian

Published: Saturday January 31, 2009

Yerevan - Sona Harutyunian, who heads the Armenian State Employment Service Agency within the Ministry of Labor and Social Issues, told reporters at a news conference on January 26 that there is a sharp growth of unemployment in the republic.

According to Ms. Harutyunian, about 2,000 people had lost their jobs by the end of 2008, with more job losses looming in the near future. Lycos Armenia, for example, has announced that it will slash 213 positions by April, 2009, while the Armenian Copper Program laid off 84 employees, ArmenTel 82 employees, and the Information Center for Science and Technology of Armenia laid off 180 employees.

The highest level of unemployment was registered in the regions of Lori and Syunik, due to the slowdown of the mining industry.

However, a spokesperson for ArmenTel, Anush Begloyan, said that the job cuts were not due to the financial crisis: "The company has been carrying out restructuring for over half a year to improve the level of service in sales and service offices, as well as to modernize technical systems."