Unemployment - major problem for Georgia

According to unofficial estimations, 70% of Georgian citizens are unemployed. However, there are different ways to identify the unemployed. If a former engineer with a diploma and many years-experience as an engineer is not working according to his professional training, but has a car which he uses as a taxi, is he unemployed or not? According to international statistics, he is employed. However, Georgians claim that such a person is unemployed.

For example, if a person does not work according to his profession, but has a bus which he leases and receives a steady income from, is he unemployed? Georgians would still claim he is not, while according to the international standards this is his business.

When poling are carried out in Georgia, sometimes people say they are unemployed; whereas while asked how much their expenditure for food or clothing is per month they write several hundreds of GEL. How can that be done? In certain cases they have premises to rent out either to a private family or a company, thus survive on this money.

Of course, personally they do not do any job, so, are they employed? One fact is for sure, it is hard for the younger generations to find a relevant job. Those who graduate from schools and later from universities still face difficulties finding jobs. This creates the sense of instability in the country; many young people do their best to emigrate from Georgia in search of better lives abroad, which of course negatively reflects on the demographic situation in the country.

The explanation that overall the situation with the younger generation is difficult in the world does not bring too much comfort to those Georgians who remain jobless.