Abstract

The UNDP in Armenia has implemented the Project “Unleashing Employment and Income Generating Opportunities for the Youth in the Regions of Armenia”. The Project aimed to support the fulfilment of the youth’s potential and well-being in the regions of Armenia through improved education opportunities, facilitated labor market transition and entrepreneurship.
The Project was implemented in close partnership with the Ministry of Science, Education, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia and pursued the following three key objectives:
i. Increase the employability of youth in vocational education and training by addressing the mismatch of labor market demand and supply sides.
ii. Facilitate the transition from TVET training to work for youth in the target regions.
iii. Support economic empowerment of young people in the target regions, especially in rural and remote areas.
More specifically, the Project aimed to support the fulfilment of the potential and well-being of youth in the regions of Armenia through improved education opportunities, facilitated labor market transition and entrepreneurship. It also aimed to provide up-to-date information on labor market demand and supply to monitor reforms in TVET policy formulation and implementation, including the introduction of advanced methodologies for the planning of TVET enrolments, practical steps in work-based learning as well as upgrade of human and teaching capabilities of TVET institutions to improve TVET quality as a key measure of employability and improved access to decent work.
Striving to address the mismatch of the labor market demand and supply of graduates, the Technical Education and Vocational Training (TVET) systems analyze labor market information fostering informed delivery in the national TVET system.
The pilot analysis entailed adapting the advanced methodology for missing data collection, analysis of the labor market demand for a skilled labor force, analysis of the skilled labor supply, and suggesting new approaches to interpreting data for advising delivery in the national TVET system.
The paper describes the processes and results of the pilot analysis of demand for the skilled labor force and “replacement demand” to advise on TVET enrolment and planning, which was carried out within the framework of the UNDP project with particular emphasis on the methodology for collecting missing data required for estimating replacement demand in Armenia from the LFS-2023.
Thus, the Project team of experts agreed with the ARMSTAT that certain modifications in the LFS-ARM questionnaire would be made to produce a replacement demand indicator within the Project’s framework.
According to that agreement, a slightly modified LFS-ARM questionnaire with newly added questions was endorsed by the State Statistical Council of ARMSTAT in November of 2022. The modified LFS-ARM questionnaire became operational for its piloting at the national level as of January 2023.
The Project’s initiative to collect missing data required for making annual estimates of replacement demand has been a real breakthrough in the national statistical practice of Armenia. Moreover, Armenia has become the first country in the Caucasian Region, which made a practical move towards estimating replacement demand thereby enhancing the quality of labor market information for TVET delivery planning.