We started collecting and analysing data on job openings published via online job-search websites in the second half of February of 2018. Data collected in the next three months period (including April 2018) allows us to observe some of the main employment trends. We continue collecting and cleaning the data for further and more in-depth analyses; until then, however, we offer a general overview of employment situation in Georgia from February to April, 2018.
In the three months period observed, 17,748 job openings were available on the three data sources studied (we have filtered for the duplication of announcements on two or more data sources, see the methodology for more details). March seemed to be the busiest month with the 7,133 openings, while the least number of postings were recorded in February (only 4,598). It should be noted, however, that we started data collection in the second half of February, hence the openings posted for less than 2-3 weeks were lost. To have a context, GeoStat’s unemployment estimate for 2017 was 276,400 persons.
It is easy to spot on the top diagram below (dashboard 1) that job openings are traditionally published during the work days; Tuesdays and Thursdays seem to be the busiest. There are days when more than 450 openings are posted on all three sources together. It is not visible on the diagram, but the webpage of Public Service Bureau publishing openings in the public sector, is less active during the work days, instead it publishes most vacancies on Sundays.
It won’t be surprising for those familiar with Georgia, that most job postings (up to 70%) are concentrated in the capital, Tbilisi; followed by Batumi with only 1,000 job openings, which is 5.6% of all vacancies published in three months. Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, and Rustavi – the biggest cities in Georgia – are followed by Telavi with 224 job openings (1% of all openings in three months), Zugdidi with 194 openings, Poti – 177, Gori – 139, Mtskheta – 105, and Marneuli – 104 openings.
dashboard 1
Note: filters work on Georgian version of the dashboard.
Most of the job openings are in sales. It is easy to spot that “Sales Managers”, “Cashier- Consultants”, “Consultants”, “Presellers”, and other representatives of sales and retail are dominating the WordCloud below. Many openings are posted in the tourism and healthcare sectors also. Interestingly, distribution of job openings is not very different across the cities, same vacancies dominate everywhere; the only stark difference is in the number of postings. We will try to offer more in-depth analysis of the types and areas of job openings in the posts to follow.
dashboard 2
Note: filters work on Georgian version of the dashboard.
Banking sector is leading the list of employers and Liberty Bank is dominating the sector with 522 job openings, see the bottom diagram on dashboard 1. Such a high number is explained by the new ownership and subsequent reorganization of the Liberty Bank that started in the end of 2017 and continued through the first quarter of 2018. Retailers with the nationwide networks of stores/supermarkets are also among the key employers – Carrefour, Diplomat Georgia, Nikora Trade, Gorgia, and Elit Electronics are the main ones to name. Public sector organizations are also large employers. Tbilisi City Hall, Georgian Post, Public Service Hall, and Revenue Service have made to the top 15 employers in the three months analysed.
Quite often job postings have no information on the employer, instead it is referred to as ‘company’. Sometimes limited information is provided in the text of the posting, but not in the ‘employer’ column. In the time period analysed for this post, up to 300 openings were published on behalf of such unspecified ‘companies’.