It’s not the content that sparks a question, but the very marked and keen interest in the content,” Armenia’s Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan told journalists on 6 March, touching upon the information on laying off 10,000 public servants.

“I am surprised by the special attitude towards the information that was released because all the statements had been made during discussions in parliament, within committees and during the plenary session in the past,” the minister said.

Journalists asked the minister how the funds saved through optimization would be used, and the minister said that even though there was still no decision on that, the law allows to use those funds to grant rewards and incentives to employees.

When asked if the government envisages compensation for those citizens who might become unemployed, Janjughazyan made the following interesting observation:

“If we are guided by the content of the word “job”, even today, the particular person is unemployed without being laid off because he comes to work and is compensated, but his work is not used anywhere. Therefore, to a great extent, his status doesn’t change from the perspective of content. Therefore, in essence, the change of status will only be in the formal sense. From that perspective, I don’t even picture the mechanism for providing additional support,” he said.