ArmInfo. The number of migrant workers in the EAEU countries in the first half of 2020 decreased by 41% per anum, amounting to 279 thousand. On November 25, during a briefing, the Assistant to the Chairperson of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Iya Malkina said.
According to her, it has most affected the Russian labor market, where the number of labor migrants decreased from 444 thousand to 247 thousand. "Mostly citizens of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have emigrated," she said.
At the same time, according to Malkina, in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, there is a slight increase in workers, while in Kyrgyzstan there are no registered workers from the Union member states at all.
It should be noted that according to the latest data of the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, the unemployment rate in Armenia decreased in the Q2 of 2020 from 19.8% to 17.5%. At the same time, according to statistics, there is an increase in the level of employment in the country - from 45% to 47.5% in the Q2 of 2020. According to the forecast of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia, updated at the end of September, the unemployment rate in Armenia will increase to 20.2% in 2020 (from the actual 18.9% in 2019). In 2021, with the reduction of measures to eliminate the consequences on the economy from the coronavirus pandemic, the unemployment rate will rise to 21.2%. In the medium term, in parallel with the economic recovery, this indicator will decline y-o-y by 0.5 percentage points - to 20% (against the previously expected 19.6%). The Central Bank of Armenia in this updated forecast report also worsened GDP expectations for 2020 to a larger decline of 6.2% from the previously expected 4% (versus actual 7.6% growth in 2019).
