In 2014, 22% of Georgia’s working adults reported having worked more than 40 hours per week, i.e. working overtime. This may not sound like a lot, but, as an average figure, it hides a great deal of geographic variation in the incidence of overtime work. Very few people work overtime in places where there are almost no jobs, such as Kakheti or Racha. Conversely, more than 50% work over 8 hours/day in the dynamically developing Tbilisi, and as many as 44% in the adjacent Kvemo Kartli.

In June 2016, the average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri increased to 3.12 GEL, which is 1.5% higher month-on-month (m/m, that is compared to May 2016), but 9.6% higher year-on-year (y/y, compared to June 2015).

Tamta Maridashvili is an intern at the Education and Social Policy Research Center at the ISET Policy Institute. She is currently taking part in a project of the Asian Development Bank, “Good Jobs for Inclusive Growth in Central and West Asia”. She is actively engaged in the process of gathering information, writing, and assisting the team in other project-related tasks.

ISET PI researcher Maka Chitanava participated in the “International Summer School on Migration Research”, organized within the framework of two EU-funded projects, “Enhancing Georgia’s Migration Management” (an ENIGMMA project implemented in Georgia by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development), and the “Support for Implementation of the Mobility Partnership with Azerbaijan” project (a MOBILAZE endeavor implemented in Azerbaijan by the ICMPD).

Retail food prices decreased by 7.6% m/m (compared to the last week of May) and 10.1% y/y (compared to June 2015). The biggest drops were observed for tomatoes (-65.5%), cucumbers (-63.3%), and eggplant (-33.7%). Only a few products gained in value. The highest increases were recorded for cabbage (12.8%), tea (7.3%), and rice (7.2%).