The number of hired employees down by 108 thousand in Georgia, - show the preliminary data from Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).
According to the document, 782.8 thousand persons were hired in the country in 1Q21, which was less by 108 thousand compared to the same period of the previous year.
Consequently, 108 thousand fewer people in the country have paid jobs due to the economic crisis of COVID-19.
In addition, the number of self-employed was reduced to 345.7 thousand.
In total, the number of employed and self-employed persons decreased by 132.9 thousand.
According to Geostat, official unemployment rate in Georgia increased to 21.9%, which is a record high and the rate is 3.7 percentage points higher compared to the same period of the last year.
In addition, the number of economically active population has also decreased. If in the first quarter of 2020, 1.54 million citizens had the economically active status, the number was decreased by 98 thousand to 1.45 million.
The number of hired and self-employed people is expected to increase again from the second quarter of 2021.
Employment is unlikely to reach the pre-pandemic level in 2021.
