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BILL TO ELIMINATE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS PROVOKES OPPOSITION'S CRITICISM IN ARMENIA
22:06 ~U 24.10.13
The proposal for eliminating the unemployment benefits has spurred
criticisms by the opposition despite the promises that it will help
make considerable savings in the public sector.
Under the bill that passed the National Assembly's first reading on
Wednesday, the monthly payments of 18,000 Drams ($44) will no longer
be paid to the unemployed, increasing the government's annual savings
to 1,990,656,000 Drams ($4,909,01).
The estimates were made based upon findings by the State Employment
Agency. The available data suggest that of the 66,990 unemployed
people in Armenia, 9,216 qualified for the benefit as of October 1.
The mechanisms of eliminating benefits and involving beneficiaries
in active social programs are known widely to be from the series of
measures aimed at "teaching to fish".
But Vahagn Khachatryan of the opposition Armenian National Congress
approaches the thesis very critically, giving it another definition.
"The fish stinks from the head," he said, commenting on the bill.
The opposition MP thinks the proposed amendments to the Law "On
Employment" will deteriorate poverty statistics Armenia. "Instead
of boosting competitiveness, fighting corruption and eradicating
unemployment, they choose the easiest way. People who are in extreme
social conditions, hardly managing to cover minimal costs with [the
unemployment benefits], are simply deprived of that," he told Tert.am.
Khachatryan, who is an economist by profession, said the bill will
boost the migration from Armenia, increasing the poverty rate from
30 to 45-50 percent.
Armen Martirosyan, the deputy leader of the opposition Heritage party,
thinks adherence to the former policies would be the best and the
only way of "teaching to fish".
"It is inhumane to cut people facing social hardships from such
benefits. Even our Constitution says Armenia is a social state, which
means the state has to fulfill certain objectives to offer social
guarantees. And the unemployment benefit is one of them," he explained.
Martirosyan noted that their party's earlier proposal for reducing the
shadow and liberalizing the economy and the governance system did not
meet any approval by the authorities. "Instead of doing all that, they
are wasting the country's resources, and the situation we are facing
now shows a decline in even the trade turnover volumes," he said.
After the Wednesday parliament debate that saw the bill pass the first
reading Nikol Pashinyan of the opposition Armenian National Congress
criticized the measure, saying that it was being adopted against the
backdrop of proposals for raising the salaries of the president and
the National Assembly speaker by 203% and 218%, respectively.
Naira Zohrabyan, the secretary of the Prosperous Armenia faction in
parliament, described the move as a change in the nation's psychology.
Armenian News - Tert.am
22:06 ~U 24.10.13
The proposal for eliminating the unemployment benefits has spurred
criticisms by the opposition despite the promises that it will help
make considerable savings in the public sector.
Under the bill that passed the National Assembly's first reading on
Wednesday, the monthly payments of 18,000 Drams ($44) will no longer
be paid to the unemployed, increasing the government's annual savings
to 1,990,656,000 Drams ($4,909,01).
The estimates were made based upon findings by the State Employment
Agency. The available data suggest that of the 66,990 unemployed
people in Armenia, 9,216 qualified for the benefit as of October 1.
The mechanisms of eliminating benefits and involving beneficiaries
in active social programs are known widely to be from the series of
measures aimed at "teaching to fish".
But Vahagn Khachatryan of the opposition Armenian National Congress
approaches the thesis very critically, giving it another definition.
"The fish stinks from the head," he said, commenting on the bill.
The opposition MP thinks the proposed amendments to the Law "On
Employment" will deteriorate poverty statistics Armenia. "Instead
of boosting competitiveness, fighting corruption and eradicating
unemployment, they choose the easiest way. People who are in extreme
social conditions, hardly managing to cover minimal costs with [the
unemployment benefits], are simply deprived of that," he told Tert.am.
Khachatryan, who is an economist by profession, said the bill will
boost the migration from Armenia, increasing the poverty rate from
30 to 45-50 percent.
Armen Martirosyan, the deputy leader of the opposition Heritage party,
thinks adherence to the former policies would be the best and the
only way of "teaching to fish".
"It is inhumane to cut people facing social hardships from such
benefits. Even our Constitution says Armenia is a social state, which
means the state has to fulfill certain objectives to offer social
guarantees. And the unemployment benefit is one of them," he explained.
Martirosyan noted that their party's earlier proposal for reducing the
shadow and liberalizing the economy and the governance system did not
meet any approval by the authorities. "Instead of doing all that, they
are wasting the country's resources, and the situation we are facing
now shows a decline in even the trade turnover volumes," he said.
After the Wednesday parliament debate that saw the bill pass the first
reading Nikol Pashinyan of the opposition Armenian National Congress
criticized the measure, saying that it was being adopted against the
backdrop of proposals for raising the salaries of the president and
the National Assembly speaker by 203% and 218%, respectively.
Naira Zohrabyan, the secretary of the Prosperous Armenia faction in
parliament, described the move as a change in the nation's psychology.
Armenian News - Tert.am