Unemployment rate in Armenia among the highest

In Armenia, considerable efforts are being made to create a positive, propagandistic image of public welfare.

In this propagandistic reality, it was initially claimed that poverty exists only in people’s minds. Yet over the years, despite a statistical decline in poverty—largely due to changes in the methodology used to calculate it—we’ve witnessed a troubling rise in the number of working poor. These are individuals who have jobs and stable incomes, but still cannot fully meet their essential needs.

One of the measurable parameters of this issue, and one of its causes, is relentless inflation—the constant and uninterrupted rise in prices for essential goods and services. According to recent data, bread has increased by 3.5%, butter by 14%, pasta by 5.3%, and vegetable oil by 17.5%. In fact, a certain acceleration of inflation was the reason why, as recently announced, the Central Bank kept the refinancing rate unchanged.

The most effective way to counter rising prices is regular indexation of incomes in line with inflation. However, since the price surge that began in 2020 and still hasn’t been overcome, incomes have not grown adequately.

Meanwhile, in the propagandistic reality, average salaries have “unprecedentedly increased.” But this is misleading. The statistical rise in average wages is concentrated in a few sectors—primarily due to significant salary hikes for highly paid professionals in finance and IT—which artificially inflated the overall average. But does this change anything for someone earning 150,000–200,000 drams?

Overall, Armenia’s socio-economic life has split into two realities: propagandistic and actual. One recent example is the 35.8% drop in Armenia’s foreign trade. Of course, one can highlight and emphasize positive statistics for a specific product or sector during a certain period, but that doesn’t change the reality. Just as one can constantly talk about diversifying foreign trade, yet over six years increase dependence on a single trade direction even further.

And finally, one can endlessly speak of unprecedented economic growth, make comparisons with other countries, and point out that, according to some statistics, we’ve surpassed certain nations—without mentioning that this is a temporary situation caused by short-term effects. Meanwhile, in the parallel reality, we have an unemployment rate of 14%, which is one of the highest not only among neighboring countries, but far beyond.