Youth, Skills & Education
Young people's transition from education to work, skills mismatch, vocational training and lifelong learning.
Last updated: 3 October 2026
Overview
Young people in Georgia face high unemployment and a difficult transition from education to work, although the situation has improved since the pandemic. The share of young people not in employment, education or training has fallen markedly, and the employment rate of recent graduates has risen. At the same time, many young workers hold jobs that do not match their education, and employment rises sharply with educational attainment.
Key figures
Trends
Georgia, the region and the EU
| Indicator | Georgia | EU-27 |
|---|---|---|
| Youth unemployment rate (15–24) | 32.0% | 15.2% |
| NEET rate (15–29) | 23.4% | 11.0% |
| Adults (25–64) in education or training in the last four weeks | 1.2% (2021) | 13.7% |
Sources: Geostat; Eurostat; ETF–Eurofound (2024) for Georgian lifelong learning participation.
| Country | Rate (year) |
|---|---|
| Georgia | 15.3 (2025) |
| Armenia | 20.2 (2023) |
| Türkiye | 23.3 (2025) |
| Moldova | 9.1 (2025) |
Source: ILOSTAT.
ILO harmonised figures count subsistence farmers as employed and therefore differ from Geostat's national figures; they are used here only to compare countries on one basis. Latest year available in brackets.
Education and employment
| Education | 2020 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Higher | 57.5 | 62.5 |
| Vocational | 41.8 | 47.5 |
| Upper secondary | 36.0 | 43.1 |
| Primary or lower secondary | 15.2 | 16.7 |
| All | 41.1 | 46.9 |
Source: Geostat.
In 2024, 27% of prime-age workers and 36% of young workers were overeducated for their jobs, and 40% of tertiary-educated workers were in mid- to low-skilled roles (IMF, 2026). Young women are more likely to be NEET than young men: 26.1% against 21.0% among 15–29-year-olds in 2025 (Geostat).
Policy and institutions
- Youth Agency — created in 2019 (ETF, 2020).
- Youth Policy Concept 2020–2030 — adopted by Parliament (ETF).
- Vocational education reform — a priority of Georgia's cooperation with the European Training Foundation; see the ETF Torino Process review (2024).
- State Employment Support Agency — public employment services for young jobseekers (see Employment & the Labour Market).
- ILO Quality Apprenticeships Recommendation, 2023 (No. 208) — the international standard for apprenticeships; see the GILS Perspective on lifelong learning.
Research map
- Geostat — NEET, graduate employment and labour force data by age and education. Data
- IMF (2026) — Georgia: Selected Issues, including skills mismatch and overeducation. imf.org
- European Training Foundation (2024) — Torino Process review of vocational education and training in Georgia. etf.europa.eu
- European Training Foundation (2019) — Skills mismatch measurement in Georgia. etf.europa.eu
- PMCG Research (2024) — Youth employment in Georgia. pmcg-i.com
- ILO (2026) — press release on lifelong learning as a strategic priority. ilo.org
Education participation (UNESCO data)
Georgia's participation in higher education is high and rising: the tertiary gross enrolment ratio reached 89.5% in 2025, up from 63.5% in 2017 — above the EU average (79.5% in 2024) and far above Armenia (52.8%) and Azerbaijan (41.3%), though below Türkiye (105.9%) (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, via the World Bank). High enrolment coexists with the labour-market mismatch documented on this page: youth unemployment of 23.7%, a 23.4% NEET rate among 15–29-year-olds, and overeducation. The missing statistic is vocational education: UNESCO's indicator on the vocational share of upper-secondary enrolment is not reported for Georgia, which is itself a gap for a country whose reform agenda is centred on skills.
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics data via World Bank, SE.TER.ENRR. Gross enrolment ratio = enrolment at a level as a percentage of the population of the official age group for that level; it is not the share of young people enrolled.
Data gaps
- Geostat does not publish a youth (15–24) unemployment total directly; GILS calculates it from age-group data.
- There are no regular official tracer studies of vocational graduates' employment outcomes in accessible form.
- Youth figures rest on small survey samples and fluctuate from year to year.
GILS analyses on this topic
AI, Skills and Young Workers in Georgia: What the ILO’s 2026 Evidence Says — and What It Doesn’tThe 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…
Georgia and the ILO’s Lifelong Learning and Skills Report: Vocational Reform, Adult Learning and the Apprenticeship StandardIn May 2026 the ILO published Lifelong learning and skills for the future, a World of Work report arguing that lifelong learning must become a central pillar of…
Georgia’s NEET Challenge: Why Young Women and Graduates Are Most at Risk of Being Left OutRoughly three in ten young Georgians aged 15–29 have been found to be neither in employment, education nor training (NEET). Among teenagers the NEET share has been falling,…
Legal Labour Migration from Georgia: 90,000 Applicants, a Few Thousand Places — Lessons from the Germany Seasonal SchemeThe European Training Foundation's work on "skills for fair, efficient labour migration" places skills at the centre of migration policy. Georgia's own experience shows why. When a seasonal…
Youth Unemployment in Georgia: Falling Rates, Shrinking Participation — Why the Headline Hides an ExitGeorgia's youth unemployment rate (ages 15–24) fell from 39.4% in 2020 to 34.5% in 2023. At first sight this is good news. But over the same period the…
Education Mismatch in Georgia: 27% of Workers Are Overeducated for Their Jobs — While Employers Report Skill ShortagesA June 2026 IMF analysis of Georgian Labour Force Survey microdata finds that 27% of prime-age workers and 36% of young workers were overeducated for their jobs in…Sources for this page
- ETF–Eurofound (2024). Working life in Georgia. etf.europa.eu
- Geostat (2026). Labour force indicators by age group; NEET; employment of recent graduates; labour force by education. www.geostat.ge
- IMF (2026). Georgia: Selected Issues. Country Report 2026/134. www.imf.org
- European Training Foundation (2020). Georgia: Education, training and employment developments 2020. www.etf.europa.eu
- European Training Foundation (2024). Torino Process: Georgia. www.etf.europa.eu
- PMCG Research (2024). Youth Employment in Georgia. research.pmcg-i.com
Figures are from the GILS Evidence Register and the official sources shown. GILS is independent of government, trade unions, employers' organisations and the ILO.