Georgia’s businesses employ 684,500 people in Q4 2018

Georgian businesses employed about 684,500 people in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2018, of which 40.6% were women and 59.4% were men.

The number of people employed in the Georgian business sector increased by 3.7% compared to the same quarter of 2017, shows the latest data by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).

The majority of people employed in the business sector worked in Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi, which is regarded as the country’s economic hub.

Number of employees by regions is distributed as follows:

• Tbilisi – 64.8%
• Adjara – 9.5%
• Kvemo Kartli – 6.6%
• Imereti – 5.5%
• Samegrelo-Zemo svaneti – 3.7%

The majority of people (42.2%) worked in small businesses, 36.2% were employed in large business, and the remaining 21.6% worked in medium-sized businesses, said the statistics agency.

Which sectors were leading by number of employees?

In the IV quarter of 2018, trade (25.7%), manufacturing (13.1%) and construction (10.6%) were leading in business sector by number of employees

However, enterprises engaged in human health and social work activities (10.2%), transportation and storage (8.1%) and accommodation and food service activities (5.5%) also had a significant share.

What is the average monthly salary in Georgia’s business sector?

The average monthly salary for a person employed in the business sector in Q4 of 2018 was 1,318.7 GEL (about $492.97/€436.28). This was an increase of 77.2 GEL (about $28.86/€25.54) y/y.

Meanwhile, the average monthly salary for women in the business sector was 977.2 GEL (about $365.31/€323.30), which is 67.9 GEL (about $25.38/€22.46) more compared to Q4 of 2017.

The amount of money businesses earned depended on the size of their enterprise, with people therefore receiving a larger salary if they were employed in a larger business compared to their smaller business counterparts.

Average monthly salaries based on the size of business:

• Large businesses: 1,288.8 GEL (about $481.79/€426.39) per month
• Medium-sized businesses: 1,513.9 GEL (about $565.94/€500.86)
• Small businesses: 1,234.5 GEL (about $461.50/€408.43)

Business sector’s turnover and production value in Q4 of 2018

The turnover enjoyed by Georgia’s business sector is increasing, reaching 25.8 billion GEL (about $9.64b/8.54b) in the Q4 of 2018. This was 21.9% more year-on-year (y/y).

The value of production generated by the business sector also grew to reach 11.5 billion GEL (about $4.30b/3.80b). This was 9.6% higher y/y.

Large businesses made up the majority of total turnover (51.6 %), followed by small businesses (28.7%), and then medium-sized businesses (19.7 %), said Geostat.

Additionally large businesses made up 40.3 % of total production value, small business generated 33.9 % of total production value and medium-sized businesses made up 25.8 % of total production value.