2019 data: unemployment down to 11.6% in Georgia

The unemployment rate in Georgia decreased 1.1 percentage points to 11.6 per cent in 2019 in comparison to the year before, says the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).

Last year the economically active population constituted 62.9 per cent of the working age population (population aged 15 and older).

In comparison to the previous year, the economic activity rate decreased by one percentage point, while the employment rate also decreased by 0.2 percentage points”, said Geostat.

In urban settlements the employment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points compared to 2018, while in rural settlements it decreased by 0.7 percentage points.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is much lower in rural areas than in urban settlements, said Geostat. Compared to 2018 the unemployment rate decreased both in urban and rural settlements by 1.8 and 0.3 percentage points, respectively. 

The unemployment rate increased only in Guria (0.8 percentage points) and Kakheti (0.1 percentage points) regions of Georgia. In the capital city of Tbilisi, where the unemployment rate is the highest, this indicator was decreased by 1.1 percentage point. 

Change of unemployment rate in 2019 compared to 2018 by regions (percentage points). Image: Geostat.

The largest decrease was observed in Shida Kartli (3 percentage points) and Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti (2.1 percentage points) regions.

Geostat said that traditionally, the unemployment rate is higher in men than in women. 

In 2019, compared to the previous year, this indicator was decreased by 1.1 percentage point for women as well as for men and amounted to 10.1 and 12.8 percent, respectively", said Geostat.

In 2019, the employment rate for women decreased by 0.3 percentage points compared to 2018, while for men by 0.1 percentage points.

Last year the share of hired employees among employed persons was 50.3 per cent - a 0.5 percentage points decrease compared to the previous year. 

It should be noted that the number of hired employees has exceeded the number of self-employed persons for the last two years", said Geostat.

In 2019 the highest rate of unemployment is still in the age group of 20-24 years (30.5%), while this indicator is traditionally the lowest in the 65+ age group (2.4%) that is mainly caused by the high rate of inactivity in this age group, said Geostat.

In addition, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.4 percentage points for women and by 1.1 percentage points for men compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.