AI, Skills and Young Workers in Georgia: What the ILO’s 2026 Evidence Says — and What It Doesn’t

GILS Research Team

Editor: Prof. Giorgi Pkhakadze, MD, MPH, PhD

Georgian Institute of Labour Studies · Trends & Skills

2 October 2026

The ILO’s 2026 reports identify the accelerating adoption of artificial intelligence as one of the risks facing labour markets, while finding that AI-specific skills are still a small part of what employers ask for. For Georgia, where young people already face high unemployment and widespread overeducation, the question is how AI will affect their entry into work — and what skills policy should do now. This brief sets out what the evidence says and what it does not.

1. What the ILO Says About AI

The ILO’s position is cautious and evidence-based. Employment and Social Trends 2026 includes AI among the risks — alongside trade uncertainty and high sovereign debt — that “could deteriorate the labour market outlook should they materialize” (ILO, 2026a). The ILO’s skills portal cites its 2023 finding that generative AI could augment at least 13% of employment worldwide (ILO, 2023). And the 2026 lifelong learning report finds that employers mostly seek broad skill combinations rather than specialist AI skills (ILO, 2026b).

2. Young Georgians’ Starting Point

Georgian youth unemployment fell from 39.4% in 2020 to 32.0% in 2025, but, as GILS has shown, partly because fewer young people took part in the labour market. More than one in six young people aged 15–24 (17.6%) were not in employment, education or training, and many of those in work hold qualifications above their job’s requirements (Geostat; IMF, 2026).

3. What This Means for Georgia

Entry-level work

If AI tools change routine tasks in office and service jobs, the entry-level roles through which graduates start their careers may change first. In Georgia, where many graduates already work below their qualification level, this could deepen the mismatch — or, if skills policy responds, help young workers move into more productive roles. Without Georgian data, the balance cannot yet be measured.

Skills, not specialist AI training alone

The ILO’s finding that employers value combined digital, cognitive and social skills suggests that Georgia’s priority should be broad digital literacy and lifelong learning rather than narrow AI courses. Georgia’s vocational system already makes digital skills mandatory in all programmes (ETF, 2024); the gap is adult learning.

4. Counter-argument

Predictions about AI and jobs are highly uncertain, and some economists argue that earlier waves of technology ultimately created as much work as they changed. Policy built on speculative forecasts could misdirect scarce resources. This is why measurement should come first.

5. Conclusion

For young Georgians, AI is one more uncertainty in an already difficult transition to work. The evidence supports broad skills and lifelong learning, careful monitoring, and attention to entry-level jobs — not alarm.

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.