2019 rural unemployment up 11% following Geostat’s new calculation standards

The National Statistics Office of Georgia has published its recalculated unemployment rate for 2019 in Georgia by a new standard, which shows that the unemployment rate in Georgian rural areas is 16.7 per cent, instead of 5.5 per cent. 

As for the entire country’s unemployment rate, in 2019 it has increased to 17.6 per cent, while it was announced at a rate of 11.6 before.

• National Statistics Office of Georgia: subsistence farmers will no longer be recorded as self-employed

According to the new standard, self-employed individuals who are not market-oriented and mainly produce agricultural products (more than 50 per cent) for their own consumption will no longer be considered as self-employed.

Individuals with this status were reclassified into other categories (unemployed, population outside the labour force) depending on whether they are looking for or ready to start a job.

As a result, 442,500 self-employed people (who have a land plot) were reclassified as it follows:

• 55,900 people – unemployed (they are producing only for their consumption but are looking for a job)
• 48,200 people – hired, employed (they are producing for sale)
• 338,400 people – out of the labor force

The share of the self-employed decreased to 30.7 per cent in 2019, while based on the old standard it was 49.7 per cent.

The unemployment rate in urban areas amounted to 18.2 per cent, while it was 17.4 by the old standard.

Taken into account the changes in methodology, the employment rate of 2019 has decreased to 42.7 per cent, while earlier it was 55.7 per cent.