Unemployment down 0.7 percentage points in Q4 2023, Georgian statistics office says

Unemployment rate in Georgia decreased by 0.7 percentage points in the fourth quarter of 2023 year-on-year and equalled 15.3 percent across the country, Azernews reports, citing Agenda.

The number of hired employees increased by 8.4 percent and reached 74,300 individuals, while the number of self-employed decreased by 1.6 percent, to 6,600. In the same period, the number of unemployed individuals went down by 0.4 percent, to 248,600.

The share of the labour force in the total population aged 15 and above increased by 1.7 percentage points y/y, to 54.3 percent, while the employment rate increased by 1.8 percentage points and amounted to 46 percent.

Vakhtang Tsintsadze, the Deputy Economy Minister, in comments of the employment data said “positive trends” were being observed in the labour market along with “high” economic activity.

In particular, in all four quarters of 2023, the number of employees continued to increase and the unemployment rate decreased. As a result, a record number of employed people and a minimum unemployment rate were recorded”, he said.

The Deputy Minister said despite these figures, unemployment still remained “a challenge”, but the Government had “quite ambitious” plans.

In particular, our goal is to reduce the level of unemployment to the level of the developed countries of Europe and the world in general”, Tsintsadze said.

The Office also said the labour force participation rate in urban areas had increased by 1.9 percentage points and by 1.2 percentage points in rural settlements. The employment rate in the former increased by 1.7 percentage points and equalled 47.5 percent, while in rural areas it increased by 1.8 percentage points, to 43.9 percent.

The share of hired employees among employed individuals was 69.8 percent, 2.1 percentage points higher than the previous year’s corresponding period, according to the Office.

In Q4, the unemployment rate decreased in both urban and rural areas of the country, by 0.2 and 1.6 percentage points respectively.

The body also said the unemployment rate was "traditionally higher for men than for women", adding the indicator decreased for women by 0.3 percentage points, and for men by one percentage point, equalling 13.5 and 16.8 percent respectively.