Wages in the public sector of Georgia cannot compete with the private sector and it is necessary that the government closes this gap, says Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia. In his words, until 2026, salaries in the public sector will increase by 10% annually.

A plan of increasing wages of employees of the public sector has been submitted by the Minister of Finance of Georgia Lasha Khutsishvili a week ago.

Pursuant to PM, for years, more specifically, from 2017 to 2020 salaries in the public sector did not increase almost in a single year, which PM Garibashvili “considers a big mistake.” In his words, the gap is quite big between wages in the private sector and the public sector. “This gap is noticeable and needs to be corrected,” he says. The first steps in solving this problem have been taken stated Garibashvili and recalled a 10% increase of remuneration of public sector workforce from January of the current year.

“Every year until 2026, the salaries of civil servants will increase by at least 10%. In total, there will be a 50% increase in the next 3-4 years," said Georgian PM.

The Ministry of Finance has already increased the base salaries of public sector employees in 2022 to GEL 1,100 ($386). This year, the wage fund of 113 thousand people hired by ministries and LEPLs increased by 177 million lari ($ 62 mln) to 1.83 billion lari ($ 642 mln).

Georgia's public sector employs a total of 301,000 people, including civil servants as well as non-staff workers and other employees. The public sector includes about 60,000 teachers working at public schools, as well as thousands of people who work in municipalities, various LEPLs and Non-entrepreneurial Non-commercial Legal Entities.

It is noteworthy, that the Ministry of Finance of Georgia does not publishes summary data of expenditure on total 301, 000 public sector employees’ remuneration. The Ministry limits itself by accounting the wages of only 113, 000 public sector workers employed at ministries and major LEPLs.