Average Salary in Georgia Increases to 1,125 GEL
SaGELes in Georgia have been steadily rising year-on-year since 2014. The National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) has reported a 56.4 GEL average salary increase in the third quarter of 2018, bringing the average salary to 1,125.5 GEL.
Those working in the financial and insurance sector earn the highest salaries and enjoy the largest annual growth, on average. They can expect to earn an average of 2,354.3 GEL, an increase of 26.6% compared to the previous year. The second highest annual salaries can be found in the professional, scientific and technical fields, where the average salary is 1,867.9 GEL (+8.6%). Information and communication roles are the third most lucrative. Employees in these fields can expect to earn 1,785 GEL (+18%).
A gender pay-gap is very prevalent in Georgia: the average monthly earnings of men were higher than those of women in almost every sector. In the third quarter of 2018, the average earnings of women equaled 851.9 GEL, whilst their male counterparts earned on average 1360.5. The annual growth also reflects inequalities. Annual salary growth for men amounted to 66.7 GEL, whereas this figure stood at only 42.5 GEL for women.
How do the salaries reflect living costs in Georgia? Data from Geostat showed the minimum subsistence level for a working age male to be 174.3 GEL in November 2018. The average person needs a minimum of 154.4 GEL, while a family needs on average 292.5 GEL to survive. These figures are based on the minimum cost of items in the consumer basket, defined by Georgian law since 2004. Whether it is actually possible to live on these figures is debatable. Monthly mortgage repayments, rent costs or utility bills are not included in the indicator.
Numbeo, a database providing information on cities and countries worldwide, ranks Georgia in 80th place in its rankings of average monthly net salary by country, below the Phillipines and above Moldova. The median annual house hold income worldwide is $9.733 according to Gallup metrics.
Unemployment in Georgia increased by 0.1% in Q3 of 2018, equalling 12.2% of the population. Men are more likely to be unemployed than women by 1.7 percentage points. The unemployment rate in women increased by 0.9% whilst the figure reduced by 0.7% among men. The rate is one of the highest in the region. Unemployment in Turkey stands at 11.3%, at 5% in Azerbaijan, 5.2% in Russia, and 4.9% in Kazakhstan. In Armenia, however, the unemployment rate is 18.2%.
The Georgian economy continues to grow year-on-year. The real GDP growth is expected to reach 4.6% in the fourth quarter of 2018 and first quarter of 2019. The tourism industry is growing especially fast. As the Georgian economy develops, salaries should continue to rise for employees in the country.
By Amy Jones