Gov’t launches and subsidises young people employment program

The Government of Georgia is striving to provide opportunities for young people, reduce unemployment and promote employment.

On January 15, the government started a subsidy program for young people’s employment, where 50 percent of the salary will be paid by the state and the other 50 percent by the employing company.

However, the state will pay no more than 470 GEL (about $184.68/€151.35*) per salary.

The total budget of the program is 700,000 GEL (about $275,051/€225,418*).

The state’s participation in the program will last only four months, after which the company will have to pay the entire salary to the employee during the next six months.

Within the program the employees will have jobs for 10 months in total, however it is up to the employer company and the employee to continue the contract in the future.

Services for supporting employment were introduced back in 2015, while this year a new segment was added to the program – youth in between the ages of 16 to 29. The renewed program was launched on January 15 this year. Before the program touched on only the employment of people with disabilities”, ‎head of Labour and Employment Policy Department at Georgia’s ‎Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, Elza Jgerenaia told Business Media Georgia today.

Also, the main thing is that companies should also be willing to participate in the program. The companies should register vacant job places and provide information about the job duties. Then our consultants will search for suitable applicants in the database of worknet.gov.ge [a special website created by the government to help young people find jobs] and will connect young people with the employer company”, she added.

Jgerenaia stated that about 20 people were employed within the program in 2016 and later the number increased to 40 employed people with disabilities.

*Currency conversions reflect National Bank of Georgia values as of today.