Unemployment issue in Armenia

This month, there were officially registered around 80 000 unemployed persons in Armenia. However the Head of State Employment Service Agency Sona Arutunian thinks that the real figure is much higher. From February 5, 2011 the law on taking care of the unemployed population will come into force. This law envisages including the unemployed into special programs therefore they will be registering with more interest to receive special allowances and benefits. Unemployment influences the population to emigrate from the country. In 2010, 65 000 citizens of Armenia emigrated from the country. These are mostly those who were frustrated by the situation in the country in which job opportunities were hard to find. This reduces the number of registered unemployed, but has a serious demographic impact on the country.