2024-04-07 14:58:54
Yesterday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Unified Social Service of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to review the structure’s 2023. to discuss the activity report.
The head of the Unified Social Service, Eduard Petrosyan, and his deputies presented the analysis and comprehensive information on the work carried out in the field of labor and social protection, as well as the result indicators of the 2023 budget. It was presented that the sectoral functions in Yerevan and marzes are organized through 49 territorial centers of the Service.
During the previous year, the number of “active” beneficiaries who used social support through the Service at least once or applied to the Service for it was 501,329 persons, which is 21.3% or 87,966 persons more than in 2022.
It was noted that the Service continues to provide family, social benefits, and quarterly emergency assistance based on the assessment of the insecurity of families in order to help raise the standard of living of families or prevent its deterioration.
Reference was made to the families recorded in the system of insecurity assessment and assigned benefits in 2021, 2022 and 2023. statistics, which shows that in 2023 the number of beneficiary families is less (in general, the difference in 2021-23 is -18.1% (15,799 families). The downward trend is due not only to the increase in the standard of living of families or the decrease in the number of difficult life situations, but also to the more targeted and professional work of regional centers .
Prime Minister Pashinyan inquired as to why the number of beneficiary families has decreased. “The number of our beneficiary families has decreased by 18 percent, that is, this is only at the expense of the administration, that those families who should not receive benefits, but do, we went, found them and removed them from the lists,” said the Prime Minister.
Those in charge noted that from 2021 the number decreased to 82 thousand, and thus the dynamics was preserved. It was noted that the number of applicants for benefits decreased by 7-8 thousand. “In other words, people who have to come and apply to be documented every year, it is assumed that they understood that there is no point in applying,” said the head of the service.
Responding, the Prime Minister noted: “But let’s look at that, dear colleagues, well let’s say, let’s assume that one year the economic growth is 5.5 percent, one year 12 percent, another year 8 percent, it should be expressed in a certain way. There are objective data, let’s say, for example, the revenues of the state budget, it is an objective data and the growth of these objective revenues must be expressed here in some way. Of course, in many cases, unfortunately, not to the extent that both they and we would like, but still, it should be expressed. I mean, you look at it from that point of view, you say that they thought there was no point in applying. In other words, it means something else, that the assessment group will come and see that the citizen applied in vain. In other words, no matter how we look at it.”
Those in charge noted that for documentation, everyone is required to apply for benefits every year.
Nikol Pashinyan noted that the decrease in the number of applicants by 8,000 is another data that again speaks of the expression of economic growth.
It was also noted that in 2023, 49 territorial centers of the Service implemented Assessment of the urgent primary needs of 48,614 people forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan after September 19. 2 coordination centers functioned under the coordination of regional centers: in the regional center of Shengavit and in the house of culture of Parakar, under the coordination of the Regional Center of Vagharshapat. Assessment of the needs of the displaced persons was carried out in these centers, consultations were provided regarding support programs and relocation to a place of temporary residence.
As of February 8, 419 applications have been approved and 214 have been qualified for the project of construction of natural facilities in the border communities through the provision of 16 million drams.
The Prime Minister noted that there is such a trend now, people from other settlements are buying land in the border village and want to become beneficiaries of the project.
Those responsible stated that there is no limit.
“In addition, I communicate with people, this has multifaceted effects, which I don’t know how much we have calculated, but the first one is that people in the villages do not let their people go to work abroad. They say you should stay, build our houses. Secondly, it brings economic activity, because when a house is built in the village, people go from the regional center, or from Yerevan, so to speak, do their necessary trade, bring it to the village. Now, as a few houses are being built in the villages, services and businesses are already emerging. The retailer comes to the village because he sees that there are processes. And I also consider those processes very important and useful. Even if they build that house as a shepherd, during the summer, they went to the village several times during the year to buy chickens, eggs, meat, yogurt, and this can have a very significant effect on the economic activation of the village. And yes, they also build guest houses, which is normal. I think that yes, we should implement that program as efficiently as possible,” emphasized Nikol Pashinyan.
114 hotline services for 2022-2023 were also presented. the work done. In 2022 compared to 2023 a 202% increase in received calls was recorded, that is, if in 2022 350,238 calls were received, then in 2023 the call center received 1,057,829 calls.
Details were also presented about the planned reforms in the field of social support, in particular, the introduction of a new system for assessing insecurity, its advantages, the development of the capacities of social workers in the context of case management, the improvement of the 114 hotline, and the processes of in-depth assessment of the needs of families displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Reference was made to the works carried out by the structure in the direction of employment in 2021-2023. In particular, it was noted that during 2023, 86,842 jobseekers received counseling on employment services in the territorial centers of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. The Unified Social Service cooperated with 18,268 employers. Although the current legislation does not establish a binding norm for the employer to provide the vacant job to the IDP, nevertheless, as a result of the formed partnership relations, as well as the social responsibility of the employer, 12,421 vacant jobs were collected, of which 1,317 are newly created jobs. The number of recruited vacancies has increased by about 50% compared to 2021.
As a result of cooperation with employers and partners, 16,933 people received a suitable job offer in 2023, which increased by 110% compared to 2021. As a result of the implemented works, 10,878 people were employed last year, which increased by 7.5% compared to 2021. It should be noted that the number of employed persons registered in the Family Insecurity Assessment System is 3,792, of which 2,961 receive family benefits. It was noted that 3,733 people were employed through employment programs.
Responding to the process of employment of citizens with the support of the Ministry of Education, the Prime Minister noted. “10,878 people who dealt with the service in any way were hired, of which 3,733 were employed through the employment program. Also, in the case of seasonal, we employ them, that is, are we talking about registered jobs?
In response, it was mentioned that the citizen cultivates his land during the season.
“We have research related to the program, data submitted by about 1100 beneficiaries. The analysis shows that the money we spent created an additional 3 times – 300 percent value. Theoretically, we gave him 4,000 drams, they worked on average 12,000 drams for each part of the expenditure,” said Eduard Petrosyan, head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Prime Minister Pashinyan noted. “We are creating value again, but I think we need to introduce a new component here. It is the counseling component to help people decide what to grow and how to grow it. This is a very important thing, based on the climatic features of the area and so on.”
Reference was also made to the current and upcoming initiatives of the employment sector, namely: modernization of the automated information system of employment functions, development of professional abilities of employment specialists, implementation of employment programs and cooperation with employers.
It was mentioned about the implementation of the system of assessment of the person’s functionality, provision of support measures, which in 2023. 38,182 citizens were recognized as persons with disabilities, of which 9,611 persons were assessed for the first time as persons with disabilities, and 24,024 state certificates were issued to receive support measures, giving them the opportunity to receive wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, canes, prostheses of lower and upper limbs, hearing aid. device etc.
Prime Minister Pashinyan inquired whether we can consider the new system of evaluating the functionality of a person as established.
Those in charge gave a positive answer and noted that from January 1, 2024, we have already started conducting re-examinations with the new system.
The main decision made as a result of the implementation of person functionality is almost completely automated, and human intervention is reduced to almost zero. “In other words, this year, only 68 percent of those who passed the evaluation by AFG were recognized. It is an incredible indicator. For example, we have fought a lot, also in the criminal domain, we have released a large number of people, we have reached 80 percent accuracy,” said the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
The works performed in the field of social security were presented. It was noted that in 2021, 2022 and 2023 The statistics of the applications accepted in the unified social regional centers show that the applications accepted in 2023 are more, which is due to a number of legislative changes implemented in 2023 (including the right to assign care allowance for a child aged 2 years from January 1 urban non-working mothers also benefited, pensioners participating in military operations for the defense of the borders of the Republic of Armenia are also given a bonus in the amount of 5000 drams, etc.).
They also talked about simplification of the administration implemented in the sector and upcoming initiatives. It was reported that about 22,000 forcibly displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh have already been confirmed and paid their pensions, as well as the benefits of about 1,200 people.