At a briefing after the Cabinet meeting, Levan Davitashvili, the First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development stressed that the high 9.5% economic growth in 2023 was reflected in employment figures, with record employment indicators registered last year.

“It’s natural that the economic data we had in 2023 should be reflected in employment indicators – last year the number of employed people increased by almost 70,000 and effectively reached a record high. Last year we had 1,402,000 employed individuals, which is also a record figure. Overall, according to the fourth quarter data of 2023, unemployment decreased by an additional 2.5 percentage points and amounted to 13.9%,” stated the First Vice Prime Minister.

Additionally, Levan Davitashvili emphasized that the current unemployment rate is still high by international standards, but it is the best result achieved so far, and importantly, the high economic growth has created new jobs. According to his statement, the main goal of the Georgian government is to ensure that the population is employed, with increasing income and dignified compensation.

“Creating 200,000 jobs in the next four-year perspective – this promise remains our top priority. All our efforts will be directed towards ensuring that economic growth is inclusive, generating jobs, and employing our population. This is the main focus and priority of our government. It’s clear that this is not the same for the opposition; on the contrary, essentially the opposite task and plan is their priority, stemming from the fact that this is simply a narrow political goal, which the Prime Minister spoke about very clearly,” noted Levan Davitashvili.

Regarding economic growth for this January, according to the preliminary data from the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, it will also be high.