Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan issued the following statement marking May 1, globally celebrated as International Workers' Day (or May Day).

Dear people, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia,

Today we celebrate Labor Day, and I would first like to express my gratitude to all the people who work in the Republic of Armenia, create results, and pay taxes and duties prescribed by law, regardless of whether they perform this function as company owners, employees, or individual entrepreneurs.

In recent years, we have achieved serious success in the labor sector. Since the People's, non-violent, Velvet Revolution of 2018, about 280 thousand jobs have been created in the Republic of Armenia. After the revolution, Armenia has ensured high economic growth, and the recorded indicators have been higher than the average of both the world and the Eurasian Economic Union. Compared to 2017, the economy of the Republic of Armenia has grown by 53.9 percent, and the tax revenues of the state budget have more than doubled.

All this is, first, thanks to the citizens who work in the Republic of Armenia, create results, and pay taxes and duties prescribed by law. And today we praise work, the working person. I consider it necessary to emphasize that since 2018, the Government has returned about 1.4 trillion drams to citizens and companies through various support programs, which is an appreciation for work and the working person. These programs to support work have also brought a great social effect: extreme poverty in our country is, in fact, on the verge of elimination, and I am sure that its elimination will be officially recorded very soon.

Any work deserves respect. But we must also record that work can bring results if it is based on education, knowledge, and a relentless pursuit of constantly developing and honing professional skills, learning more, and realizing what we know, and economizing. Modern realities force us to add re-specialization to all this, because artificial intelligence, which is developing day by day, will significantly change the labor market. And even more so, in these conditions, learning, getting educated, knowing, and developing is the only way to have a job and make the work we have more effective and profitable.

This statement does not mean underestimating a person’s existing skills, there is simply no one who knows everything, and new knowledge, skills and abilities make a person more competitive.

Dear people, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia, foreign citizens operating in Armenia,

As a result of our joint work, the Republic of Armenia has transformed and become a much better state for education, work, recreation and living. The Republic of Armenia is flourishing, and this is thanks to the work of all of you.

We plan to continue this process in the coming years, and the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan opens new opportunities for investments, business, economic activity, and education.

I thank all of you again for your daily work and congratulate you on Labor Day.

Long live work, long live education.

Glory to the martyrs and long live the Republic of Armenia.