The European Commission published the annual report on the enlargement of the European Union, in which Georgia was evaluated for the first time. The document describes in detail the steps taken by Georgia in terms of rapprochement with the EU legislation, noted the progress and also indicated the areas where problems still remain.
The conclusion pays much attention to the protection of human rights, including labor and social rights. The issues that the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation has been putting as priority issues for the society for years have now been written once again by the European Commission and it has been confirmed that on the path of European integration, it is necessary to discuss and solve the fundamental issues on which the trade unions have presented a number of initiatives and opinions. These issues are: social protection, including unemployment benefits and minimum wages, promotion of social dialogue, labour safety and relevant ILO conventions.
Chapter 19 of the document – deals with social policy and employment, where we read that “EU laws in the social field include: minimum standards of labor law, equality, health and safety in the workplace and the prohibition of discrimination. They also promote social inclusion, social protection and social dialogue at EU level. As for labor legislation, “Georgia has legislation related to all eight directives, where it has an obligation to bring its legislation closer to these directives within the framework of the Association Agreement with the European Union (AA/DCFTA). This obligation applies to the Labor Code, the Organic Law on Labor Safety and Health, and the mandate of the Labor Inspection Office,” the document says.
As for social dialogue, the conclusion states that collective agreements are limited in Georgia. Collective agreements are mostly concluded at the company and enterprise level, and only one sectoral collective agreement has been signed. Social partners need capacity building activities to implement effective social dialogue. It should be noted that the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation has repeatedly stated its position on the ways and importance of social dialogue.
In the same chapter, the level of unemployment in Georgia is also discussed – “The level of unemployment in Georgia in 2022 was 17.3%, which is a reduced rate compared to 2021, when the level of unemployment was 20.6%.” Most likely, the reason for this is the post-Covid-19 recovery process. Still, in the first quarter of 2023, the unemployment rate rose to 18 percent. The unemployment rate among men is higher than among women (19.3% against 14.6%). In 2022, women’s labor force participation percentage remains lower (41.5%) than men’s (64%). The employment rate (%) of women is still much lower (35.4%) than that of men (51.7%), the report states.
It is emphasized that informal employment remains a challenge in Georgia. In 2022, about a third of the population (28.4%) was involved in informal employment. Here too, more men are involved in informal employment than women (33.4% / 22.5% against).
The proportion of young people who are not employed, not in education or in any form of training remains high, ranging between 23.4% (15-24 years old) and 30.7% (15-29 years old) by age. This issue needs to be resolved.
The Georgian Trade Unions Confederation has been actively working with the directions outlined in the document by the European Commission. Also, on October 6, the organization filed an initiative in the parliament with the request to establish a decent minimum wage, and the chairman of the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation called on the decision-makers, the legislative executive authorities, to draw up such an agenda that would be focused on the needs of the citizens of Georgia. A number of studies confirm that, as a priority, the citizens of Georgia are worried about: unemployment, poverty, low wages. Therefore, the initiative to establish a decent minimum wage standard needs immediate consideration.
