Abstract
Continuing the discussion of the interviewees’ accounts, this chapter looks at issues relating to the workplace in Armenia and abroad, including the challenge of finding work that is commensurate to education and skill level. This can be a difficult transition, different and arguably more arduous compared to moving from education-to-work in other countries. For those who remain in Armenia, there may be limited opportunities for professional development, while moving abroad brings with it risk and uncertainty. The interviewees provide illustrations of different aspects of transitions-to-work at home and abroad, including managing expectations when seeking employment in Armenia, and while the idea of moving abroad to work is popular, relatively few of our interviews have encountered success after leaving.
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Notes
- 1.
Not only has the quantity of work thought to have declined in Western countries but finding and keeping a secure job has become more complicated compared to the assumed ease with which previous youth generations were thought to have entered the labour market, although in actuality this may be something of a ‘golden age’ perspective (see Goodwin and O’Connor 2005).
- 2.
In total, 55 per cent of respondents over the age of 23 in this study (i.e. those who have for the most part finished their studies) were not employed when surveyed, contrasting with the much lower figures we cited previously, with a significant gender/marital gap; 67.2 per cent of married males were in employment while 76.6 per cent of married women were not (Mkrtichyan et al. 2016, p. 39).
- 3.
For more details on employment trends in Armenia, including youth unemployment, see https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS?locations=AM&name_desc=false.
- 4.
The overall scale of outward migration from Armenia is also useful to note, with the number of Armenian migrants according to a World Bank survey stated as 870,200 in number or 28.3 per cent of the total population, with the top destination countries being Russia, the US, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Israel, Germany, France, Spain and Greece (World Bank 2011).
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Cairns, D., Sargsyan, M. (2019). Working Inside and Outside Armenia. In: Student and Graduate Mobility in Armenia. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19613-4_4
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