საქართველოს შრომის ბაზრის სოციალური და ეკონომიკური გამოწვევები როგორც პოსტ-საბჭოთა პოლიტიკების შედეგი

The following paper – „Social and Economic Challenges of Georgian Labour Market as a Result of Post-Soviet Politics“ – by Iakobidze M. concerns the main social and economic challenges of the labour market in Georgia and what impact did the political economy of the state have in reproducing those challenges. To identify the uniform pattern of economic development paper discusses main tendencies of economic reforms since early post-soviet transition stage (since early 1990s) until today. By analizying state’s labour market policies the paper will try to answer following research questions – what are the goals of state policies – to meet market demand or socio-economic development of the country? Do these two coincide or contradict each other? and what are the political and economic implications of these policies in the long run?

Number of national labour market studies indicate that due to the economic structure most of the existing jobs in Georgia do not require higher education, since market generates mostly low-productivity, low-quality workplaces in service sector. Henceforth, the following paper argues that if state policies will be directed at meeting current labour market demands it will not serve to the development of the country in a long run, since it will continue to reproduce low quality, low-paid service jobs that do not create economic value. In support of this thesis, the paper will discuss the development experience of newly industrialized East Asian countries in comparative perspective.