BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 22
By Maryana Akhmedova – Trend:
The recovery of the tourism sector in Georgia will improve the unemployment rate in 2022, Trend reports via weekly market watch from Galt & Taggart investment bank.
According to Galt & Taggat, due to the fact that most people in Georgia are employed in the tourism sector the unemployment rate is directly tied to it.
The unemployment rate in Georgia in the fourth quarter of 2021 decreased by 1.4 percentage points, and accounted for 19 percent. Despite this decline, the unemployment rate still exceeds the pre-COVID-19 pandemic mark (17-18 percent), the report said.
The labor force rate in the reporting period of 2021 accounted for 51.2 percent of the working age population (15 years and older), which is 1.2 percentage points higher than over the fourth quarter of 2020, while the employment rate increased by 1.7 percentage points to 41.5 percent.
Meanwhile, in the baseline scenario, Galt & Taggart expects Georgia’s tourism revenues in 2022 to recover to 80-85 percent of the 2019 level and total $2.8 billion (123.2-percent year-on-year increase). The projected figure will account for 13 percent of the GDP, the report added.
Therefore, Galt & Taggart forecasts the labor market to recover significantly with the tourism rebound in 2022.
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