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Labor market of Armenia differs from other labor markets and has its peculiarities, chairman of the Republican Union of Employers of Armenia Gagik Makaryan told a press conference in Yerevan. According to Makaryan, it lacks the spirit of Soviet times. 

“We have about 190,000 employees in the government sector and 220,000 employees in the private sector. Small businesses make a considerable part in labor market, while many think that big businesses have a bigger share,” he said.

As regards relations between employees and employers, Makaryan stressed that there is a need to ensure equal competition and to give impetus to small businesses.

Referring to labor contracts, he said that employers sometimes do not realize the responsibility for having unregistered employees and employees do not realize the benefits of having a labor contract. As an example, Makaryan said that employees sometimes do not want to get registered so as not to make compulsory pension payments.

“Employers have negative attitude to the compulsory pension system. We believe that it is early to implement such a reform in Armenia. We have repeatedly said that the new government must solve problems the public is most concerned about rather than launch large-scale reforms,” Makaryan said.

As for unemployment rate, Makaryan said that according to official data, it makes 17 percent, while in reality this figure is higher.