“Nanny at the expense of the state”: there are more questions than answers

At the December 5^th  sitting, the National Assembly debated draft amendments to the RA Law on Employment, by which the state tries to create opportunities for women with children under 2 years to return to the labor market. The project became known to the public as a “nursing program”, as the state proposes to compensate the mothers with the maternity allowance of a two-year-old child by paying a monthly salary of 55,000 drams. 11 times a year because the employee has  a one-month leave.

From the first day of project submission to the second reading, the details of the project significantly reduced the euphoria on the “nanny at the expense of the state”. It turned out that there were more questions than answers. The usual calculations showed that a working woman more than half of the 55,000 drams paid by the state would pay in the form of a tax because she would be obliged to sign a contract with a nurse as an employer and to pay the state tax. It is also clear that if a working mother receives a lower salary, her income will not be enough to hire a nanny, even with a partial participation of the state, and that the manger is more relevant to this category of mothers.

It is not unequivocal that the program will motivate the young woman, who earns the average salary, to return to work, since she will have very little money left after paying the taxes. It is not accidental that Nikol Pashinyan from Yelk fraction was interested if it was intended to support mothers or tax nannies.

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