The unemployment rate in Georgia increased by 3.3pp in January - September 2021, to 21.2% compared to 17.9% in the same period last year. In the third quarter of the year, the unemployment rate eased to 19.5% and the annual advance narrowed to 2.5pp.

In the fourth quarter, the base effects will dissipate and the annual figures may decrease compared to the January - September average yet remain above the 20% threshold, most likely 2pp above the 2020 average.

The unemployment rate in Georgia picked up for the first time in response to the COVID-19 crisis no earlier than the last quarter of 2020 - with a significant lag compared to the economic slowdown.

Speaking of the number of persons employed, this decreased by 2.3% (17,957 persons) to 678,000 persons in Q3, 2021 compared to 696,000 persons in Q3, 2019 before the crisis.

Employment has increased in the sectors of mining, services to households (trade, essentially) and IT&C, where the number of employees advanced by 3,300 (+39%), 3,200 (+1.8%) and 5,900 (+25%) respectively. The sectors of mining and IT&C have demonstrated a significant advance in relative terms, while retail is a major employer and any change makes a big impact overall.

The employment mostly decreased in the sectors of constructions (-9,400 or -13% compared to 2019), HoReCa (-5,600 or -14%) and arts and entertainment (-4,400 or -27%) - but the government has as well decreased the workforce hired in public administration (-3,000 or 12.6%).

GEORGIA labour market [thousand]	Q3 19	Q4 19	Q1 20	Q2 20	Q3 20	Q4 20	Q1 21	Q2 21	Q3 21
Total 15 + population	3,044	3,032	3,013	3,013	3,037	3,011	2,995	3,032	3,013
Labour force (Active population), total	1,576	1,532	1,545	1,515	1,529	1,506	1,447	1,559	1,592
Employed	1,311	1,277	1,263	1,238	1,269	1,198	1,130	1,215	1,281
Hired	904	880	891	840	845	805	783	832	862
Self-employed	406.8	396.8	370.8	397.6	423.1	391.9	345.7	381.8	418.6
Not-identified worker	0.3	0.4	0.7	0.5	0.7	0.9	1.2	1.0	0.7
Unemployed	264.9	254.9	282.6	277.4	259.8	307.8	317.5	344.6	310.8
Population outside the labour force	1,468	1,500	1,468	1,498	1,508	1,506	1,548	1,473	1,421
Unemployment rate, percentage	16.8	16.6	18.3	18.3	17.0	20.4	21.9	22.1	19.5
Labour force participation rate (Economic activity rate), percentage	51.8	50.5	51.3	50.3	50.3	50.0	48.3	51.4	52.8
Employment rate, percentage	43.1	42.1	41.9	41.1	41.8	39.8	37.7	40.1	42.5
Source: GeoStat, BNE IntelliNews

PERSONS EMPLOYED	Q3 19	Q4 19	Q1 20	Q2 20	Q3 20	Q4 20	Q1 21	Q2 21	Q3 21
By kind of economic activities, total	695,994	713,899	684,372	631,814	645,571	641,577	622,746	659,718	678,037
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	11,877	11,594	11,094	11,579	11,641	11,272	11,156	11,455	11,500
Mining and quarrying	8,484	8,293	8,105	8,409	8,523	8,828	10,521	11,006	11,788
Manufacturing	89,682	89,848	84,996	82,891	83,627	85,240	84,914	86,412	86,465
Electricity, gas, steam supply	15,153	15,318	15,443	15,564	15,570	15,577	15,817	15,894	15,372
Water supply; sewerage, waste management	14,276	14,225	14,267	14,345	14,419	14,593	14,751	14,648	14,528
Construction	71,955	72,573	59,160	57,796	61,965	67,714	56,174	58,286	62,596
Services to households	182,636	188,566	187,369	169,516	177,770	170,388	169,566	180,579	185,869
Transport., storage	56,378	57,622	56,764	50,282	52,568	49,705	49,638	52,768	54,282
HoReCa	40,550	40,621	38,661	30,215	31,039	26,421	21,775	30,348	34,917
IT&C	23,722	24,842	24,260	22,399	23,747	23,968	25,551	26,662	29,605
Real estate activities	20,083	20,581	19,195	17,725	18,189	17,612	16,595	17,818	18,626
Services to companies	24,471	25,342	22,223	21,520	22,550	22,346	21,160	21,607	23,021
Public administration	23,883	23,450	22,393	19,240	19,836	18,841	17,751	19,497	20,881
Education	16,733	24,345	24,280	24,019	16,529	24,103	24,054	24,149	16,614
Health and social work activities	71,398	71,824	71,979	70,740	71,502	71,947	72,121	72,566	72,705
Arts, entertainment and recreation	16,213	16,238	15,898	9,341	8,680	7,024	5,521	9,564	11,813
Other service	8,500	8,618	8,286	6,234	7,414	5,999	5,680	6,459	7,454
Source: GeoStat, BNE IntelliNews