Georgia to launch large-scale employment program for socially vulnerable

Employment for socially vulnerable in Georgia

According to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, from March 1, an employment program for socially vulnerable groups will be launched and 200,000 people will be employed.

As the Prime Minister explained, this will have a twofold effect – on the one hand, the income of the unemployed who receive social benefits will increase, and at the same time, funds that have been used to pay social benefits, will be used to create new infrastructure or improve existing one.

“Job opportunities will be created specifically for target groups and will involve work that any qualified person can do. This will help increase their motivation and encourage them to be active in the labor market. We have developed the program in accordance with the best Western practices”, Garibashvili said.

According to him, this program will be useful for able-bodied people who receive social benefits from the age of 18 to retirement age, who do not have the status of a disabled person or do not have serious health problems. Vacancies will also be created by municipalities and ministries. According to the Prime Minister, 50,000 vacancies will be created at the first stage.

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According to Garibashvili, the program will be implemented by the State Employment Agency, and the beneficiaries will have the opportunity to choose either a public service or a vacancy related to skills, experience and professional development in the labor market. Socially unprotected people who will take on the job opportunities provided by the state program, will continue to receive benefits for another four years.

“The financial assistance that people receive today will continue to be provided for another four years, we will not withdraw it. Each citizen participating in this program will receive an additional 300 GEL. On the one hand, they will receive social assistance, which in some cases may be 400-500 lari, maybe 700-800 lari, and, on top of that, they will receive an additional 300 lari from the state”, Garibashvili says.

According to the Prime Minister, a person will continue to receive benefits even if they do not take on any of the proposed job opportunities, but in a year time, the socio-economic situation of the family will be reassessed:

“A large-scale public works program, in our opinion, is an important step in the fight against poverty. On the one hand, we will give 200,000 of our fellow citizens better incomes, decent working conditions and possibility of professional realisation, and on the other hand, we must turn them into competitive, motivated people who will be fully involved in the process of restoring our country”.

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According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 13.7% of the total population of Georgia receives social benefits, which means that every 7th person is extremely poor. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of such people has increased by 16% and currently more than half a million people receive benefits – 510,343. The number of people registered in the database for applying for social assistance from the state has also increased since the beginning of the pandemic.