Irakli Kobakhidze: “The number of hired employees in Georgia increased by 185,000 over three years from 2022-2024.”
Verdict: FactCheck concludes that Irakli Kobakhidze’s statement is MOSTLY FALSE.
Irakli Kobakhidze compared the number of hired workers in 2024 to that of 2021 – a pandemic-affected period when job losses were particularly severe and were at their highest in the last decade. This comparison is misleading as it exaggerates the scale of progress. However, even using this comparison, the number of hired workers increased by 131,000 – not 185,000, as claimed. Furthermore, the increase amounts to just 62,900 when compared to the pre-pandemic period of 2019. The number of hired workers has not risen by 185,000 in any recent three-year period, nor even over the past decade. The increase is 164,900 as compared to 2014 – still short of the figure cited by Kobakhidze.
Considering the factors discussed above, FactCheck concludes that Irakli Kobakhidze’s statement is MOSTLY FALSE.
Analysis
Irakli Kobakhidze stated: “The number of hired employees in Georgia increased by 185,000 over three years from 2022-2024.”
Mr Kobakhidze compares the data for 2024 to that of 2021, a year when employment rates dropped sharply due to the pandemic and related economic restrictions. Notably, 2021 recorded the lowest level of employment, including hired workers, in the past decade (2015-2024). As a result, this comparison is manipulative and overstates the actual progress.
The employment rate in Georgia reached 47.1% in 2024, marking a 2.6 percentage point rise as compared to the previous year, according to GeoStat. Employed individuals are primarily classified into two categories under GeoStat’s methodology: hired employees and the self-employed. Notably, hired employment is generally more efficient in terms of income stability and job quality. In contrast, self-employment tends to be less stable and often associated with lower income. The share of hired employees in total employment decreased by 0.5 of a percentage point to 68.5% whilst the share of those self-employed increased by the same margin to 31.5% in 2024. The number of hired employees grew by 40,000 (4.3%) whilst the number of the self-employed rose by 27,900 (6.7%) over the year.
As for employment trends in recent years, the employment rate in Georgia declined sharply in 2020-2021 due to strict and prolonged economic restrictions during the pandemic. Whilst economic figures rebounded sharply in 2022, they had not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. Both overall employment and the number of hired workers increased as compared to previous years and the pre-pandemic period in 2023 and 2024.
The number of employed people rose by 106,600 by 2024 as compared to 2019 – including 62,900 hired workers and 43,600 self-employed. The employment rate (the share of employed individuals in the 15+ population) rose from 42.7% to 47.1% during the same period. This growth was primarily driven by the rise in the number of employed persons although a decline in the population above the age of 15 also contributed to the trend.
The number of hired employees increased by 131,000 over the three-year period from 2022 to 2024. In addition to the fact that comparing current data to the pandemic period inflates the perceived progress, even within that flawed comparison, the figure cited by Irakli Kobakhidze is incorrect.
Graph 1: Distribution of Employees by Employment Status
Source: National Statistics Office of Georgia
Additionally, it is essential to understand the factors that contributed to the increase in the number of employed people in the country between 2022 and 2024. Firstly, the end of the pandemic and the lifting of related economic restrictions led to the restoration of jobs lost during the pandemic. Moreover, new jobs were created across both the private and public sectors. Furthermore, the employment programme for socially vulnerable individuals, which was launched in the spring of 2022, also contributed to the growth in employment to a certain extent. The objective of the programme is to encourage the employment of socially vulnerable, employable individuals, primarily through artificially created public jobs. It is important to view the aforementioned programme not as a genuine employment initiative but as a social programme funded by the state budget resulting in a rise in employment statistics.
Comparing current employment figures to the pandemic period – when many were unable to work due to restrictions – is manipulative and inflates the actual scale of progress. Moreover, the figure cited by Irakli Kobakhidze is factually incorrect: the number of hired employees did not increase by 185,000 during the 2022-2024 period, nor even over the past decade (2015-2024).
