Education Return, Labor Market and Job Satisfaction in Georgia

Center for Social Sciences and Open Society Georgia Foundation presented a research report that measures the economic benefit of higher education in Georgia, evaluates whether or not education matches labour market requrements and what is the level of job satisfaction in the country.

The publication is based on the nationwide representative survey conducted in Summer 2016 and comprising up to 1500 respondents. Descriptive and explanatory statistics were deployed for the data analysis.

The research revealed the following general tendencies:

• Each additional year of formal education increases monthly remuneration by 7% on average. Georgia’s indicator in this respect is 3% less than the world average
• Compared to the general (school) education, undergraduate education (Bachelor’s degree) increases employment opportunities at least 3 times, while graduate education (Master’s degree) – 5 times. However, the level of education does not determine whether an individual gets employed in a high-skilled or low-skilled job
• Low productive labour market in Georgia is determined by the so-called credential (knowledge) inflation, as well as the disbalance between the types of occupation required by the labour market and the professions young people acquire at the universities
• The population lacks two extremely important skills for labour productivity – the English language proficiency and computer skills
• Lack of relevant knowledge and comptences in the labour force negatively affects the development of innovative sector, which is already scarecely represented on the labour market
• No statistically significant correlation is observed between job satisfaction and actual salary. However, satisfaction with salary significantly determines job satisfaction. This correlation points out that for the majority of the respondents, having a job with at least some salary, even a low one, is enough to have a sense of satisfaction
• Job autonomy does not determine job satisfaction, meaning that in Georgia, the majority of the respondents do not care about the possibility of independent decision-making concerning task distribution or time allocation, while these aspects are major predictors of job satisfaction in number of countries
• Relationships with colleagues and supervisors at the workplace significantly determine job satisfaction. Such an influence of social capital can be explained by the collectivist orientation that is characteristic of Georgia, i.e. informal relationship between colleagues is an integral part of the job.

Based on the research results, set of recommendations were elaborated for the Ministry of Education and Sciences, Ministry of Health and Social Protection, as well as other governmental bodies.