Armenia

The review should gather evidence from multiple stakeholders, including employers and community organisations. It should consider short- and-medium- term costs as well as possible sources of funding.

A substantial effort is the needed to increase the number of quality jobs. This should be a major component of a revised employment strategy that should promote job creation and forge pathways to higher skilled employment. In the previous revision, employment policy shifted from passive to active measures. The next one should integrate human capital development to combat informality by offering pathways into quality employment. This could be achieved through a new countrywide training scheme aimed at lower- and mid-qualification levels (e.g., 1-4) that includes young people.

The programme should provide a 'steppingstone' into primary labour market jobs, improve and increase broad-based work-related training and boost the 'life chances' of participants. The programme should improve the status of many jobs. The target group must include both employed and unemployed individuals because many jobs offer unstable employment and few training opportunities.

The government should review its policies in education and employment to identify areas where women are disadvantaged and work on new programmes to support their participation in continuing training and employment, particularly for those women who face multiple barriers to employment. The government should work with employers to identify and eliminate pay discrimination.

Regional enterprise resource centres should be established to provide informal enterprises with access to information and advice on how to access potential markets for their products and services and to support their participation in training.

Managerial competence impacts directly on the labour market because it affects the ability of firms to recruit, sustain and develop staff.

The business community should support community education programmes for entrepreneurs. They should focus on providing information and guidance, including

mentoring and/or one-to-one interaction

better use of business networks and local cooperation

the use of cutting-edge computer and communications technologies to deliver management development assistance to small enterprise owners and managers, along with more flexible education and development systems, such as open learning

Policy should target informal enterprises in rural areas to provide support measures which strengthen their abilities to cooperate and share resources.

Teachers need to acquire new functions and skills. The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport should launch a sector qualification framework for teachers. It should bring all secondary education professionals together into an integrated career structure that facilitates transfer and career progression. It should incorporate new and emerging human capital professions such as mentors, assessors and workplace trainers.

In cooperation with other relevant business stakeholders, the ministry should:

• Help teachers of VET schools acquire new knowledge (to update and upgrade their skills);
• Help employees of private companies obtain training so they can support learners;
• Expand career guidance services for students to better inform them of career opportunities

The Armenian Qualification Framework should be fully implemented. Among other things, it should be used to help bolster quality assurance for vocational education and training programmes, in particular those offered by private and non-for-profit training providers.