PM Nikol Pashinyan’s Message on International Labor Day

YEREVAN (Armradio) — Poverty can be overcome only by work, combined with education and improvement of qualification, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a message on International Labor Day.

He said May 1 is truly an “important day because everything we see in our environment, everything we interact with, is necessarily the result or consequence of someone’s work done or not done.”

“Work done and not done, successful and not so successful, is what has made each of us who we are,” he added.

“Work, the perception of work, working conditions are what have made the modern world what it is. Over the past century, the perception of work has changed significantly and is changing at a rapid pace,” the Prime Minister said.

“If in the past work was considered a factor limiting human freedom, today’s perception is that work should bring freedom, well-being and happiness to a person. In today’s world, doing work you love and enjoying the work you do is an important factor and component of happiness. In today’s world, it is not possible to build prosperity without work. And the earnings obtained as a result of work should give a person the opportunity to live freely, including to travel widely,” PM Pashinyan stated.

“These are, of course, ideals, but these ideals are already available in many cases, if the work is based on high qualification, that is, education, with the understanding that education is not only a matter of childhood and youth, but also a lifelong task,” he added.

However, he noted, there is a painfully significant gap between the ideal and the reality, because today thousands of people in the Republic of Armenia live in poverty. Some of them have jobs, others are unemployed.

“But as before, I am convinced that poverty can be overcome only by work, combined with education and qualification improvement. Unfortunately, this formula cannot realistically be applied to the representatives of the older generation, who would need to use such a formula due to their social status,” PM Pashinyan continued.

He noted that the government’s efforts are aimed at creating opportunities for training, qualification improvement and motivation for representatives of the middle generation.

“The most important long-term thing to do ion the path of overcoming poverty is the reform of the education sector: pre-school education, general education, vocational education and training, higher and post-graduate education, with the aim that the education system should reveal the talent of a person, to do the work he loves and be happy at work, free and give a chance to live well.,” he said.

The Prime Minister stressed that today, the main reason why a person lives in poverty is the education he did not receive at the time, or the inadequate quality of the education he received.

“It is my belief that every person is talented, and proper education can reveal his talent so that a person has the opportunity to build his well-being through work. The case of people who are unable to work or have limited work ability is a completely different situation. As far as labor rights are concerned, the most important solution to this problem lies not only in proper laws and regulations, but also in a caring and knowledgeable relationship between employers and employees,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

He congratulated the citizens on the occasion of the International Day of Labor and Solidarity of Workers, and gave special thanks to citizens and residents of the country who work, create results and pay taxes prescribed by law.

“Glory to the martyrs and long live the Republic of Armenia,” he concluded.