Unemployment rate down 1.4% in Q1, Georgian statistics office says
Geostat said the number of hired employed had increased by 5.6 percent and reached 863,500 individuals, while the number of self-employed had increased by 6.6 percent and equalled 407,700. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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Unemployment rate in Georgia decreased by 1.4 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same quarter of the previous year and equalled 18 percent across the country, data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia shows.
Geostat said the number of hired employed had increased by 5.6 percent and reached 863,500 individuals, while the number of self-employed had increased by 6.6 percent and equalled 407,700.
In the same period, the number of unemployed decreased by 3.6 percent and equalled 279,200", Geostat said.
The share of the labour force in the total population aged 15 and older increased by 2.1 percentage points year-on-year and became 52 percent, while the employment rate increased by 2.4 percentage points and amounted to 42.6 percent.
The labour force participation rate in urban settlements increased by one percentage points, while it increased by 3.2 percentage points in rural settlements compared to the previous year. The employment rate increased in urban settlements (by 1.2 percentage points) as well as in rural areas (by 3.8 percentage points) and equalled 43.5 and 41.3 percent, respectively", Geostat said.
The share of hired employees among employed individuals was 67.9 percent, 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous year`s corresponding period, according to the Office.
In Q1, the unemployment rate decreased in urban (by 0.8 percentage points) as well as in rural settlements (by 2.4 percentage points).
The body also said the unemployment rate was "traditionally higher for men than for women", with the labour force participation rate higher for men than women.
This indicator decreased for women by 1.7 percentage points, while it decreased by 1.1 percentage points for men and equaled 15.1 and 20.3 percent, respectively", Geostat said.
Georgian Deputy Economy Minister Vakhtang Tsintsadze on Monday said the country’s economic growth rate had proved an “important factor” in reducing unemployment to its “historic low”, creating new jobs and combating poverty in the country.