Unemployment Rate Down to 11.6% in Georgia in 2019

In 2019, the unemployment rate in Georgia decreased by 1.1 percentage points compared to 2018 and amounted to 11.6%, shows the report by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).

In 2019, the economically active population constituted 62.9% of the working age population (population of 15 years and older). Compared to 2018, the economic activity rate, and the employment rate were decreased by 1.0 and 0.2 percentage points respectively. In urban areas, the employment rate was increased by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous year, while in rural areas it was decreased by 0.7 percentage point. The economic activity rate has decreased by 1.0 percentage point in both urban and rural areas.

In 2019, the share of hired employees among employed persons was 50.3%, that is it decreased by 0.5 percentage points 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.

The unemployment rate is much lower in rural than in urban settlements. In 2019, compared to the previous year, the unemployment rate was decreased both in urban and rural settlements by 1.8 and 0.3 percentage points, respectively.

In 2019, compared to the previous year, the unemployment rate increased only in Guria and Kakheti regions by 0.8 and 0.1 percentage points, respectively. In Tbilisi, where the unemployment rate is the highest, this indicator was decreased by 1.1 percentage points. The largest decrease was observed in Shida Kartli and Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti regions, by 3.0 and 2.1 percentage points respectively.

Traditionally, the unemployment rate is higher for men than for women. In 2019, compared to the previous year, this indicator was decreased by 1.1 percentage points for women and men, and amounted to 10.1 and 12.8%, respectively. 

The activity rate is relatively high for men. In 2019, the activity rate for women was 54.5% and for men 72.6%. In 2019, the activity rate for women decreased by 1.1 percentage points and by 1.0 percentage point for men, compared to 2018.

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

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%) which is mainly caused by the high rate of inactivity in this age group.

By Ana Dumbadze 

Source: Geostat