Thursday, 23 October 2014
At a government media center-hosted press conference, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Artem Asatryan commented on the need and the objectives behind the proposed amendments to the laws on Temporary Disability Benefits and State Benefits.
According to the Minister, State budget spending has increased by about 3 times over the last 4 years under the aforementioned two programs.
“We studied the number of births, the increase in wages and the overall number of disability absences and found out that there is not a 3-fold increase associated with these factors,” A. Asatryan said.
Out study showed that about 20 percent of beneficiaries had been recruited only a couple of months ago the delivery, while the average duration of temporary disability leaves rose to 17 last from the average 7 days in recent years.
“This means that we have to understand how much effectively these programs are targeted. After analyzing the problems, relevant proposals were submitted. They are not a definitive conclusion, instead they are legislative initiatives in the form of recommendations, which we are discussing, and are ready to continue discussing until a final solution is found,” the speaker said.
The Minister added that parliamentary hearings are due on the matter, as a result of which a final draft will be submitted to Parliament for consideration.
