Since 2020 Georgia has adopted a Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, introduced a duty of reasonable accommodation in the Labour Code and created protected workplaces and supported employment in its employment promotion law. Yet in 2020 only about one in six men and one in ten women with official disability status were employed. This analysis examines the gap between Georgia’s legal framework and the labour market reality — and the data gap that makes the problem hard even to measure.
- 1. Introduction
- 2. The Legal Framework
- 3. Findings
- 3.1 Very low participation and employment
- 3.2 Lower pay and concentration in agriculture
- 3.3 Young people with disabilities face the steepest barriers
- 3.4 A data gap
- 4. Discussion
- Argument: law without services and enforcement
- Counter-argument: low employment reflects age and health
- 5. Limitations
- 6. Conclusion
Key Findings
- In 2020, the employment rate of people with official disability status was 15.9% for men and 9.7% for women; labour force participation was 19.8% and 11.6% respectively (Geostat LFS, in UN Women & UNICEF, 2021).
- Employed people with disabilities earned on average 25% less than other workers in 2020, and about 85% of employed people with disabilities worked in agriculture (UN Women & UNICEF, 2021).
- The 2014 census counted 184,958 people with significant functional disabilities (5.0% of the population) but only 100,113 with official disability status; 57.9% of people with a disability had a functional disability without official status (UN Women & UNICEF, 2021).
- Youth unemployment among people with disabilities aged 15–29 was 42% for men and 49% for women, against 26% and 35% for all youth (2014 census).
- Georgia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2014 and adopted the Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2020, introducing a biopsychosocial model of disability (UN Women & UNICEF, 2021).
1. Introduction
Employment is central to the inclusion of persons with disabilities: it provides income, social contact and independence. Georgia’s legal framework has changed substantially since it ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This analysis asks how far that framework has translated into access to work, and what prevents further progress.
2. The Legal Framework
| Instrument | Year | Relevance to employment |
|---|---|---|
| UN CRPD ratified | 2014 | Right to work on an equal basis (Art. 27) |
| Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities | 2020 | Biopsychosocial model; strategy and action plan; Geostat duty to analyse disability data |
| Labour Code amendments | 2020 | Anti-discrimination chapter; duty of reasonable accommodation |
| Law on Employment Promotion (Chapter V) | 2020, in force 2023 | Protected workplaces; supported employment consultants |
Sources: UN Women & UNICEF (2021); GRATA International (2020); Matsne; Boergen & Burisch (2021).
The 2020 Labour Code reform established the principle of reasonable adjustments, obliging employers to take measures giving persons with disabilities equal opportunities in employment and career development (GRATA International, 2020). The Law on Employment Promotion defines protected workplaces — work environments adapted by an employer in agreement with the State Employment Support Agency — and supported employment consultants for job seekers with disabilities (Matsne, Law No. 6819).
3. Findings
3.1 Very low participation and employment
In 2020, fewer than one in five men and one in eight women with official disability status were in the labour force. Part of the sharp fall from earlier years reflects Geostat’s 2020 change in methodology, which stopped counting subsistence farmers as employed (UN Women & UNICEF, 2021). Because most working people with disabilities had been in agriculture, the new method revealed how few are in paid or market-oriented work.
3.2 Lower pay and concentration in agriculture
About 85% of employed people with disabilities worked in agriculture, and among employees, people with disabilities earned about 25% less than others in 2020. Under 1% of people with disabilities were employers, roughly half the share in the general population (UN Women & UNICEF, 2021).
3.3 Young people with disabilities face the steepest barriers
Educational barriers contribute. People with disabilities were 15 to 31 percentage points less likely to complete each level of education than the general population, according to the census (UN Women & UNICEF, 2021).
3.4 A data gap
Most labour market data on disability rely on official disability status, which covers only a minority of people with functional disabilities — especially women, 64.2% of whom had a functional disability without official status. Available data covered only 16 of 58 indicators in an international minimum set, and there was no single electronic register of disability status holders at the time of the report (UN Women & UNICEF, 2021).
4. Discussion
Argument: law without services and enforcement
Georgia’s laws now recognise reasonable accommodation, protected workplaces and supported employment. But the disability chapter of the employment promotion law entered into force only in September 2023, and there is little public information on how many protected workplaces or supported employment placements have been created. The Public Defender has previously described state employment programmes for persons with disabilities as insufficient (Public Defender of Georgia, 2020).
Counter-argument: low employment reflects age and health
Many people with disabilities in Georgia are older — about half of those with functional disabilities were over 70 in the census — so lower employment partly reflects age rather than discrimination (UN Women & UNICEF, 2021). This is an important caveat. But the large gaps among young people, who face the steepest unemployment, cannot be explained by age.
5. Limitations
The most detailed labour market data are from the 2014 census and the 2017–2020 Labour Force Surveys. LFS samples of people with disabilities are small, and the 2020 methodological change limits comparisons over time. More recent data, including from the 2024 census, were not available for this analysis.
6. Conclusion
Georgia’s disability law has moved a long way since 2014, but employment outcomes remain very poor and are poorly measured. Closing the gap requires services that make the legal framework real — supported employment, workplace adaptation and accessible training — and data that capture all people with disabilities, not only those with official status.
GILS Recommendations
- Add the Washington Group questions to the Labour Force Survey, so that employment of all people with functional disabilities can be measured regularly.
- Publish data on protected workplaces and supported employment placements created under the Law on Employment Promotion.
- Fund workplace adaptation through grants to employers for reasonable accommodation.
- Prioritise young people with disabilities in vocational education and transition-to-work programmes.
- Enable the Labour Inspection Service to monitor reasonable accommodation and disability discrimination at work.
GILS Position
Georgia’s laws now speak the language of rights. For persons with disabilities, the test is whether they can find and keep decent work. On current evidence, that test has not yet been met — and better data are the first step towards meeting it.
References
- UN Women & UNICEF (2021). Women and Children with Disabilities in Georgia: An Overview of the Data. Tbilisi. un.org
- GRATA International (2020). Parliament of Georgia adopted amendments to the Labor Code. gratanet.com
- Matsne (2020). Law of Georgia on Facilitating Employment, No. 6819. matsne.gov.ge
- Boergen, R. & Burisch, M. (2021). Uncertain Chances of Success: A Review of the Georgian Law on Employment Promotion. FES. fes.de
- Public Defender of Georgia (2020). Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Georgia. ombudsman.ge
Suggested citation: GILS Research Team (2026). Disability and Work in Georgia. Editor: G. Pkhakadze. Georgian Institute of Labour Studies, Tbilisi. labour.edu.ge
GILS analyses are prepared with AI-assisted drafting. All figures and claims are verified against the cited primary sources and reviewed under the responsibility of the Editor.
This analysis is also published in GMJ News — Work & Health, the news service of the Georgian Medical Journal.