Minimum Wage in Georgia - Two Years of Broad Public Support

Unlike most European countries, Georgia de facto does not have a minimum wage. This is surprising given not only the firm commitment to European integration, but also the broad public support the idea of a minimum wage enjoys.
A public opinion poll, commissioned by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and conducted by the Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC), shows that:

• 80 per cent of Georgians either fully or rather support having a minimum wage regulation in Georgia. The share of those supporting the idea of has increased by 5 percentage points since spring 2020, when the survey was conducted for the first time.
• An average value for a perceived decent minimum wage amounts to 1,208 GEL, about six times higher than the current subsistence minimum.
• When asked what they would like to earn, on average, Georgians name 1,778 GEL as an anticipated decent salary. Employed respondents on average perceived 2,108 GEL as a decent salary, compared to 1,427 GEL named by unemployed Georgians.

The poll’s results are summarized in our new study.

David Sichinava
Caucasus Research Ressource Center
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Tbilisi, 2021