Q3 2016: Georgia’s businesses enjoy 15.5b GEL turnover

The turnover enjoyed by Georgia’s business sector is increasing, reaching 15.5 billion GEL in the third quarter (Q3) of 2016.

This was 11.9 percent more year-on-year (y/y), showed latest data by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).

The value of production generated by the business sector also grew to reach 8.2 billion GEL in Q3 of 2016. This was 15.8 percent higher y/y.

Large businesses made up the majority of total turnover (79.9 percent), followed by medium-sized businesses (10.2 percent) then small businesses (9.9 percent), said Geostat.

This graphic shows the turnover and production value in Georgia's business sector from 2009 to 2016. Graphic image by Mariam Chalauri/Agenda.ge. 

Additionally large businesses made up 79.3 percent of total production value, medium-sized businesses generated 10.9 percent of total production value and small businesses made up 9.8 percent of this.

How many people are employed in the business sector?

About 606,000 people were employed in Georgian businesses in Q3 of 2016 – a 6.6 percent increase y/y, said Geostat.

Of these employed people, 40.1 percent were women and 59.9 percent were men.

This graphic shows how many people were employed in Georgia's business sectors in 2015-2016. Graphic image by Mariam Chalauri/Agenda.ge. 

The majority of people (61.7 percent) worked in large businesses, 23.5 were employed in small businesses and the remaining 14.8 percent worked in medium-sized businesses, said the statistics agency.

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

The average monthly salary for a person employed in the business sector in Q3 of this year was 1,012.5 GEL. This was an increase of 51.4 GEL y/y.

Meanwhile the average monthly salary for women in the business sector was 739 GEL, which was 40.9 GEL more compared to the same quarter of last year.

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

• Large businesses: 1160.7 GEL per month
• Medium-sized businesses: 915.6 GEL
• Small businesses: 576.6 GEL

Number of employees per region

Most people employed in the business sector worked in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, which was regarded as the country’s economic hub.

Geostat revealed the number of employees by region:

• Tbilisi – 64.8 percent
• Adjara – 9.5 percent
• Imereti –7 percent
• Kvemo Kartli – 5.6 percent
• Samegrelo-Zemo-Svaneti – 3.6 percent

Meanwhile, Geostat’s annual employment data of 2015 said about 1.8 million people were employed in Georgia last year and most of them were self-employed.