How do labour market policies affect migration in Georgia?
The previous section has considered how migration affects the labour market. At the same time, migration is equally affected by Georgia’s labour market policies. Effective labour market policies can have an indirect impact on households’ migration decisions. Policies to improve the domestic labour market may reduce the incentive to migrate. Such policies can seek to enhance labour market efficiency through state employment agencies, improve the skills set of the labour force through vocational training, and expand labour demand by increasing public employment programmes.
To date, the impact of these labour market policies on migration in Georgia remains unexplored in the research. This section attempts to disentangle the link between these policies and the decision to emigrate and the reintegration of return migrants into the labour market. Box 4.3 describes how the IPPMD survey covered labour market policies and programmes.
Box 4.3. Labour market policies and programmes covered in the IPPMD project
The IPPMD household survey asked household members whether they had benefited from certain labour market policies and programmes (Figure 4.6). It also asked people employed in the public and private sectors how they found their jobs, with government employment agencies being one of the options. The survey also asked the labour force if they had participated in any vocational training programmes, and if so what type of training they received. They were also asked about participation in public employment programmes.
The community survey collected information on the existence of vocational training centres and job centres. It also asked if certain types of training programmes have been held in the communities and whether they have offered public employment programmes.
Figure 4.6. Labour market policies explored in the Georgian surveys
Note: The IPPMD survey also asked if individuals received unemployment benefits but this question was not included in the Georgian survey as it had no unemployment benefits at the time of the survey.
