Increased rates of employment

Georgia’s Minister of Finance - who previously served as the Minister of Economics - Dimitry Kumsishvili, stated that the Georgian Dream authorities have managed to create hundreds of new jobs in the country.

He stressed the number of employees has increased in all three quarters of 2016 compared to the previous year.

Kumsishvili noted that in 2016, the private sector made an important decision to create new jobs.

He announced about 33,000 jobs were created in the first and second quarters of 2016, while the figure rose to 37,000 in the third quarter.

The Minister cited statistics according to which the unemployment rate had decreased since 2013 and reached an “historical minimum” of 12% in 2015.

“Up to 33,000 jobs were created in the first and second quarters of 2016, while the figure rose to 37, 000 in the third quarter. The unemployment rate had decreased since 2013 and reached an historical minimum of 12% in 2015,” said Kumsishvili.

The Minister also had to answer the opposition’s questions about the planned “optimisation” in the state bodies, which referred to reducing administration expenses.

The Government has stated it planned to reduce administrative expenses by 10% from the next year, and several ministers did not exclude the possibility of firing of people from their current jobs to cut costs.

Kumsishvili stated in response that “professional employees” would never be dismissed.

When the Government speaks about creating jobs it should also provide information which lists where people were mainly employed and what their average income was.

The average income of most people of Georgians ranges between 400-500 lari, which is a very low income compared to the recent devaluation of the national currency against the US dollar, increased prices of products and medicines.

At the same time, the country has no effective mechanism to control how the rights of employed people are protected.

If the Government looks into the issue more closely, it will see that the rights of the employed population are very roughly violated very often, as employers mainly perceive their staff as their subordinates who will not be able to find new jobs quickly.