What career struggles do Armenian youth face and what can be done to help them fulfil their career potential?

The high youth unemployment rate, remaining to be around 36.1%, continues to one of the main challenges for the Republic of Armenia. For young people, the transition from education to the labour market tends to be a complicated experience filled with a lot of uncertainty due to economic conditions such as low demand, high unemployment, low wages, as well as a lack of information regarding career opportunities. Aiming to alleviate the feelings of uncertainty, the European Union (EU) co-funded programme ‘EU4YOUTH: Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship’ created a podcast ‘Labour rights of young people in Armenia and transition to work’. The podcast includes two episodes covering two topics related to relevant issues young people in Armenia face when entering the job market or starting to plan out their careers. Each episode of the podcast also includes a few guests, policymakers, specialists, practitioners, or experts in the topic sharing their insights and advice.

Support when transitioning to work in Armenia

The podcast’s episode ‘Transition to work in Armenia: how to ensure sustainable and satisfying career?’ touches upon career guidance opportunities, and career development support services for young people in the Republic of Armenia. In this episode, Zara Aslanyan, Head of the Department for Youth Policy, Supplementary and Continuing Education Youth Policy, Additional and Continuing Education of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport of the Republic of Armenia, Tamara Torosyan, Deputy-Chief of the Unified Social Service of the Ministry of Labour and Social Issues of the Republic of Armenia, Haykuhi Gevorgyan, Director of the Professional Orientation and Skills Development Center, Grigor Yeritsyan, President of the Armenian Progressive Youth NGO, and Levon Babamyan, Head of the Career Center at Brusov State University share their insights about youth career opportunities in Armenia.

“There are a number of projects related to professional orientation, career guidance, and entry into the labour market: how to write a competitive CV, how to have a dialogue with the employer, etc. These projects have already been implemented or are in the implementation process this year, as well as will be carried out next year, again targeting the youth of Armenia,” says Zara Aslanyan.

The full episode can be found here: https://share.transistor.fm/s/3e709078/

Protection of labour rights must be improved

In the other podcast episode ‘Protecting labour rights of young people in Armenia and empower them for successful career and entrepreneurship’ experts Ruben Sargsyan, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, Elen Manaseryan, President of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia, Suren Mkhitaryan, President of the Association of Social Enterprises of Armenia, Edgar Mehrabyan, Project Manager at the International Collaboration Department at the Chamber of Commerce, and Industry of the Republic of Armenia touched upon the issue of labour rights violations and business development opportunities for youth in Armenia.

“It is noticeable that young people tend to speak up about violations of labour rights only in case they are fired or quit their job. Additionally, very often young people do not even recognize that their rights have been violated as they do not read their agreements thoroughly and are not well informed about their rights. Those are problems that we need to work on and improve,” says Elen Manaseryan.

The full episode can be found here: https://share.transistor.fm/s/65c97f9c/

About the project

The EU4YOUTH: Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship programme is co-financed by the EU and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and aims to spread information about career guidance process, the labour market, personal development, as well as detailed information about decent work standards for youth of Armenia. The initiative is implemented by the Central Project Management Agency (CPMA) in Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine) until the end of 2024 and comprises technical assistance activities to support organisational structures and institutions (governmental and non-governmental) addressing youth employment and employability.