Armenia’s government approves merged employment support programme
The scheme is due to start on January 1, 2027, offering eligible workers training vouchers and payments for staying in a job.
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The scheme is due to start on January 1, 2027, offering eligible workers training vouchers and payments for staying in a job.
Armenia’s government has approved an employment-support programme offering training vouchers, employer tax reimbursements and payments to workers who stay employed, as reported on 22 October. At a press conference covered in the 26 October account by Armenpress, officials said employment programmes would operate exclusively through e-work.am and gave a preliminary estimate of 1,500 participants.
The merged programme will replace three schemes serving recently discharged servicemen, people displaced from Karabakh and able-bodied members of socially vulnerable families. Labour and Welfare Minister Arsen Torosyan presented it at the Cabinet meeting covered on 22 October. Low participation in the existing schemes partly prompted the merger.
Liana Tovmasyan, deputy head of the Unified Social Service, said the move to e-work.am would cover all employment programmes, including applications, documents and other processes. The consolidated scheme’s applications and eligibility checks were already set to run through the platform.
Tovmasyan said citizens had struggled to understand which separate programmes they qualified for, how to apply and which documents to provide, and that combining the schemes was intended to simplify and encourage applications and give training a greater role.
Officials put preliminary coverage at 1,500 participants in 2027. That is a planning estimate, rather than a fixed limit: the Ministry of Labor and Welfare said it was ready to discuss higher demand.
Training providers will scan the voucher’s QR code to identify participants and enrol them in a course, How2B said on 22 October. Participants will upload a scanned training contract to the platform, which will automatically forward it to a specialist at a territorial centre of the Unified Social Service.
After training, information confirming the award of a completion certificate will become available in the participant’s account.
The programme covers three groups:
Applicants in the first two groups must also have received no salary or equivalent payments during the preceding three months. Restrictions will apply based on participation in previous employment programmes and previous employment relationships with the same employer.
Eligible participants will receive an electronic vocational-training voucher worth up to 250,000 drams. It can be used only once, within six months of issuance. Qualifying providers offer modular non-formal education—training organised in units outside formal education—endorsed by Armenia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports. The programmes are listed on the ministry’s website.
Participants will receive a certificate after completing training. Providers will be paid within 10 working days after confirmation that the participant has received the certificate, with payment capped at the voucher’s value.
Ruzanna Pepanyan, head of the ministry’s Employment Programs Department, explained that employers hiring certified trainees would receive income-tax compensation under the two-tier schedule below. Employers must hire participants in the occupation shown on their certificate. The reimbursement covers income tax calculated and paid on the worker’s salary, not a share of the salary itself.
How2B said reimbursements would be paid quarterly. Workers can separately receive payments for staying with the same employer; these are additional to their pay.
| Recipient | Employment period | Support |
|---|---|---|
| Employer | Months 1–3 | 50% of income tax calculated and paid, up to 25,000 drams a month |
| Employer | Months 4–6 | 100% of income tax calculated and paid, up to 50,000 drams a month |
| Worker | After three months with the same employer |
The existing programmes had enrolled fewer people than their annual targets at the reported checkpoints. The figures for vulnerable families cover an earlier period than those for the other two schemes.
| Programme | Reporting date | People enrolled | Annual target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discharged servicemen and participants in military operations | 1 October 2026 | 129 | 500 |
| Displaced people | 1 October 2026 | 306 | 1,000 |
| Able-bodied members of socially vulnerable families | 1 July 2026 | 64 | 679 |
The government estimates funding for 2027 at 862.5 million drams, to come from money earmarked for the three existing programmes.
The programme will enter into force on 1 January 2027. Payments for participants who remain employed for 12 months are planned for the 2028 budget.
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| 100,000 drams |
| Worker | After 12 months with the same employer | An additional 200,000 drams |
To qualify for reimbursement, employers must sign contracts lasting at least three months, generally for full-time work, subject to legal exceptions. Public service bodies and organisations in which the state or a municipality holds at least a 50% stake are excluded from employer support.