“The number of Armenians leaving for temporary jobs abroad cut by half as a result of world financial-economic crisis”, said the Head of Migration Department at the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration Gagik Yeghanyan at the press conference on June 25, 2009 in Yerevan, NEWS.am correspondent reports. According to Yeghanyan, the number of Armenians leaving abroad for a work was about 60-70 thousand a year before the crisis.

In addition, the Head of the Migration Department informed that despite the crisis, there is no mass inflow of Armenians that left abroad for a long time. These people, he says, due to the world crisis consented to do their job at a lower rate or got other occupations. The Migration Department delegation was in Moscow twice, seeking to reach an agreement with Russian authorities on support of Armenian permanent migrants. “It’s not beneficial for the Russian authorities either, if the professionals and skilled workers leave the country”,he declared.

As for the employment rate in Armenia, those who could not leave abroad this year will most likely “join the ranks of unemployed”, Mr Yeghanyan concluded.