237.5 Thousand of Georgian Citizens are Unemployed

According to Geostat, in IV quarter 2018 year the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point compared to the previous quarter and equaled 12.3 percent.

In 2018 the annual unemployment rate decreased by 1.2 percentage points compared to 2017 and amounted to 12.7 percent.

It should be noted that the downtrend in the unemployment rate is maintained during the last nine years, furthermore in 2018 unemployment rate reached the lowest level within the past 15 years.

In IV quarter 2018 economically active population constituted 63.6 percent of the working age population (population aged 15 and older). In comparison to the previous quarter, the economic activity rate and employment rate decreased by 0.7 percentage points. The employment rate in urban settlements decreased by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous quarter and in rural settlements – 1.3 percentage points. Compared to the previous quarter the economic activity rate in rural settlements decreased by 1.6 percentage points, while in urban settlements remained unchanged.

Traditionally, the unemployment rate is higher for men than women. In IV quarter 2018 the indicator was 2.6 percentage points higher for men compared to the corresponding indicator for women.