Unemployment Figures High

Official statistics claim that unemployment in Georgia is 16.3%. PM Nika Gilauri however states that unemployment is down to 15.5%. President Saakashvili promises that by 2015 unemployment will be down to 10%. Analysts challenge this position stating that there is no tendency at all showing a decrease in these figures. Official statistics identify an unemployed person as someone who is older than 15 who was not employed for even one hour for the last seven days who has been searching for a job for the last four weeks and was ready to start working in the following two weeks. One cannot be considered unemployed in a rural place if one possesses at least 10 sq.m of land. Since 1998, the level of unemployed has increased from 12.4% up to 16.3%. Even the situation among the employed is dire. Of those employed, 17.4% live on approximately GEL 2 a day. A total of 80% of the rural population is self employed. That means that they work on their land. If we add up all those figures and assess reality then unemployed is around 60% in the country. According to some research more than 60% of population thinks that unemployment is the number one issue in the country. Almost 33% think that situation in this area is deteriorating or remaining the same.