ILO launches $600,000 initiative to tackle informal work amid Armenia’s refugee crisis

YEREVAN (ILO News) – The International Labour Organization (ILO) has launched a US$600,000 initiative to bolster formal employment among Armenia’s growing refugee population. The project comes as the international community intensifies its efforts to support the estimated 115,000 ethnic Armenian refugees displaced from the Nagorno-Karabakh region to Armenia, many of whom are struggling to find stable jobs.

“A job is the number one priority for refugees,” said United Nations Resident Coordinator in Armenia, Françoise Jacob. “Income is a critical factor that can help them to cope with difficulties.”

The United Nations recently highlighted the urgency of supporting refugees in Armenia, including by removing the significant barriers to employment that a large percentage of working-age refugees face. Almost half of Armenia’s refugee population are currently unemployed, according to an International Organization for Migration (IOM) survey, making their integration into Armenian society particularly difficult. 

While Armenia had seen a decline in informal employment prior to the crisis the ILO warns that these gains are at risk of being reversed without targeted interventions, especially among population groups like refugees, who are more vulnerable to informality. The ILO initiative therefore seek to ensure that workers' rights are protected and working conditions are improved amid the current labour market strain. 

“We are mobilizing funds, deploying technical specialists and championing labour standards, sustainable enterprises and gender equality to help Armenia achieve a sustainable recovery,” said Mikhail Pouchkin, Director of the ILO’s Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 

The ILO initiative will operate in the capital, Yerevan, and the provinces of Kotayk and Ararat. It will work in partnership with the Armenian Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the social partners (employers’ and workers’ organizations) and other UN agencies to help with the integration and support of refugees. The ILO will strengthen the capacity of employment counsellors to assist refugees and work on raising awareness among host and refugee communities about the importance of ensuring that jobs in fields where refugees are traditionally concentrated, such as the care sector and platform/gig work, are decent and secure. Further work with trade unions to promote refugee labour rights will also take place. Armenia’s recent economic growth also offers an opportunity to help with formalisation. 

“Economic growth is a prerequisite to reduce informality; however, the process is not automatic”, said Frédéric Lapeyre, Director of the ILO’s Priority Action Programme on Formalization. “We must work on multiple fronts to prevent informalization of the labour market by safeguarding decent working conditions, assisting refugees’ access to formal jobs and creating more productive employment opportunities based on an enabling environment for sustainable enterprises”. 

This latest initiative underscores the global commitment to addressing both the immediate and long-term needs of host and refugee populations in Armenia while also fostering resilience and stability within the labour market.