In the regions of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Georgia has one of the highest levels of youth unemployment rates and is ahead of only 9 other countries.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), globally this year 63.7 million youth are unemployed. According to the ILO, the youth unemployment rate is at 28.%. Based on ILO’s methodology, persons from the age of 15 to 24 are considered part of the youth category. Based on ILO data, Georgia is showing trends of reducing youth unemployment and throughout the last decade, an increase in youth unemployment was only recorded once in 2013. For comparison, in 2009 the rate of people aged 15-25 who were unemployed stood at 38.1% and based on the ILO projection this figure will drop to 28.1% this year and down to 27.8% in 2020.
Based on ILO’s definition, a person is classed as unemployed when they are of working age, are completing activities in order to get employed, are seeking a job, and are ready to start work. The unemployment rate is calculated by looking at the percentage share of the unemployed in an economically active population.
Based on the ILO data, Georgia belongs to the Eastern Europe and Central Asia regions. 50 countries from these regions are covered in the data. Among these countries, Georgia is ahead of only 9 countries based on its youth unemployment rate.
Eastern European and Central Asian countries where the rate of youth unemployment is the highest:
• Bosnia and Herzegovina – 55.5%
• Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic) – 47.2%
• Greece – 42.5%
• Armenia – 38.7%
• Italy – 32.8%
• Albania – 32.7%
• Montenegro – 32.7%
• Spain – 32.6%
• Serbia – 31.3%
• Georgia 28.4%
*In the active population
Among the European and Central Asian countries, the unemployment rate is the lowest in the following countries: Switzerland with 8%, Norway 9.7%, Netherlands 7%, Kazakhstan 4.7%, Israel 6.6%, Iceland 7.8%, Hungary 9.4%, Germany 6.6%, Czech Republic 5.7%, and Austria 9.5%.
