YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 14, NOYAN TAPAN. By the data of the Job Agency of the RA Ministry of Labor and Social issues, in January-June 2006, there were 107,900 unemployed persons in Armenia. 87,700 of them, including 71,100 women, had status of an unemployed person. Seda Manvelian, Chairwoman of the NGO "40+" (dealing with women's problems), said this at a press conference. According to her, women aged 31-50 make up 67.2% of the unemployed, women above 51 - 13.1%. "I say with full responsibility that in reality these figures are 3 times as great," she stated. In her words, most of Armenian middle-aged women under 63 are unemployed, with almost no opportunity to get a job. As a result, on the one hand, women of this age are deprived of the opportunity to work and receive a salary, on the other hand, they receive no pension. So, a package of proposals to be submitted to the RA National Assembly has been developed in order to mitigate the situation related to unemployment among women, taking into accoint the discussions in the NA before the approval of the 2007 state budget of the RA. Thus, it is proposed to reduce the pension age for women from 63 to 60 and at the same time to stipulate by law that working women of 60 and above shall decide themselves whether to continue to work or not. 80 NGOs and 4 political parties (the Orinats Yerkir Party, the Progressive United Communist Party, the "Democracy and Labor" Party and the National Democratic Party) have joined this package of proposals.

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