Armenia to offer training vouchers of up to AMD 250 thousand from 2027
Unemployed people demobilized from compulsory military service, people displaced from Karabakh and able-bodied members of low-income families in Armenia will receive vouchers worth up to AMD 250 thousand (about $692) for short-term training. The Employment Support Program was approved at the October 22 cabinet meeting. The program starts on January 1, 2027, and the whole process will run on the e-work.am digital platform. The program is expected to cover 1,500 participants in 2027.
The program was developed by the Ministry of Labor and Welfare. It replaces three earlier programs that are being repealed due to falling demand. According to the explanatory note, the program for demobilized jobseekers had enrolled 129 of the 500 people planned for 2026 as of October 1, the program for displaced persons 306 of the planned 1,000, and the program for low-income families 64 of the planned 679 as of July 1.
A voucher can be used only once, within 6 months of issue. Training will be provided by organizations whose courses are on the list of recommended modular non-formal education programs published by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport. The organization will identify the participant by the voucher’s QR code, enroll them in a course and sign a training contract.
The participant will upload a scan of the contract to the platform, which will automatically forward it to a specialist at a regional center of the Unified Social Service, the state social welfare agency. Information on the certificate issued at the end of the course will also go to the center and appear in the participant’s account.
Employers will also get support if they hire a course graduate in the profession named in the certificate on a full-time employment contract of at least 3 months. They will be reimbursed quarterly for the income tax paid on the employee’s salary: 50% for the first three months, capped at AMD 25 thousand a month, and 100% for months 4–6, capped at AMD 50 thousand. Public service bodies and organizations in which the state or a local community holds 50% or more of the charter capital are not eligible.
Participants themselves will receive a one-time payment of AMD 100 thousand if the employment lasts 3 months, and a further AMD 200 thousand if it lasts 12 months.
According to the explanatory note, the maximum cost of the program per participant is AMD 775 thousand, covering the voucher, the income tax reimbursement to the employer and AMD 300 thousand paid to the participant. In 2027 it will be AMD 575 thousand, as the AMD 200 thousand paid after 12 months will be funded from the 2028 budget. The program will require AMD 862.5 million in 2027, to be drawn from the Employment Program: the 2027 budget request allocates AMD 1.04 billion to three of its measures.
According to the Statistical Committee of Armenia, the unemployment rate was 13% in the second quarter of 2026, up from 12.3% a year earlier, with 182 thousand people unemployed. Of these, 101 thousand, or 55.5%, were long-term unemployed. In January–June 2026, about 5 thousand people found jobs through the Unified Social Service, and at the end of June there were 9 jobseekers per vacancy.
