Women in the labor market / Infographics

1. The proportion of women in the working resources of Armenia is 55%, but 52.5% of women and 71.2% of men are economically active and men and women’s economic activity gender gap in the 25-34 age group is 40 %, which is mainly due to family responsibilities (pregnancy, childbirth, child care, etc.).

2. Unemployment rate in Armenia is highest among CIS countries. According to the ILO data, it is 20.2% among women and 16.4% – among men. At the same time there are significant gender differences between the duration of unemployment and the reasons for not working. Of the officially registered unemployed, 67.8% are women, and the long-term (over 3 years) unemployment rate is particularly high among women

3. Young people (16-30 years old) remain in the labor market as a stable vulnerable group, with 47.9% of economic activity, 30.3% of employment and 36.7% of unemployment, respectively. 2016 According to the data, almost 47% of the 15-29 year old female youth and 23% of the male population do not study or work.

4. According to the data of 2016, the average monthly nominal salary (earnings) of women in Armenia was 66.4% of men’s earnings, or the gender disruption was 33.6%. At the global level, this gap is 23% on average. Due to the difficulties in women’s professional advancement, higher education levels are not always mitigating gender-disruption. Men in executive positions exceed women by 2.4 times. Vertical discrimination is maintained even in areas traditionally occupied by women, such as health, education, culture, and agriculture.

5. There are also gender differences in pensions, although the RA Law on State Pensions has set a unified age for men and women aged 63 years. In 2016 the average pension amounted to 39,165 AMD for women and 42,313 AMD for men.

6. Of the economically inactive population, 33% are men and 67% are women. Most economically inactive women are housewives. In 2016, 47% of 15-75 year old women did not work and did not look for it being mostly engaged in household activities. Women perform most of the unpaid work done at home, which does not receive any value assessment and is not reflected in the national accounts system. At the same time, about 40% of economically inactive women have higher or secondary vocational education.

7. Among the obstacles to finding a job, both men and women mention the lack of jobs in the first place. The second place is that women do not have enough work experience, and men have lower wages. This fact indirectly proves that women’s ambitions are lower in terms of remuneration than men. Women constitute the majority (70%) among the hopeless ones, i.e. those who do not have the hope of finding a job and are not even looking for it. The intentions of leaving the country are among the reasons why men are not working.

8. The means of state support in combining family responsibilities and career are insufficient, as evidenced by the fact that 98% of those who do not work in family circumstances are women.

9. 2016 the poverty rate in Armenia was 29.4%, 1.8% of them were extremely poor, and 8.0% were very poor. 56.6% of the poor are women, and 43.4% are men. The percentage of households headed by women (33% in the republic) is higher than poverty (32%) compared to men headed households (29.5%). 39.8% of households with children headed by women are poor, and 4.1% are extremely poor, which is almost twice higher than the average.

10. According to the Armenian Republican Council of Entrepreneurs, the share of women in large, medium and small businesses does not exceed 10%. The share of women in microbusiness is greater –  20-25%.

By the way, research shows that 62% of men and 56% of women fully agree with the judgment that when there are few jobs, men should have more wider rights to work than women.

Full text in Armenian