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Unemployment the major problem in Georgia

By Messenger Staff
Monday, May 10
In April 2010 the National Democratic Institute (NDI) carried out a poll in which it interviewed more than 2,000 people countrywide. The results showed that the most acute problem the Georgian population faces is unemployment, as more than 70% of those asked said they were unemployed.

59% highlighted that unemployment is the most serious problem for them, whether they were unemployed themselves or not, and 55% said that politicians did not pay enough attention to that problem. Compared to the previous year's result more people think that unemployment is the most acute problem and 39% say that the employment situation has deteriorated.

Official statistics show that in the fourth quarter of 2009 unemployment increased and 16.3% of the population capable of work is affected by it. Officially there are more than 300,000 unemployed and around 2 million work capable people in Georgia, but these figures are challenged as out of the 1.7 million officially employed 63% are self employed. This means that they own land or cattle which could potentially become a source of income, but in reality farmers are unable to cultivate their land because they lack the resources to purchase the appropriate machinery, fertilizers, irrigation, seeds, fuel and so on.