Anastasia Kitiashvili used CRRC’s 2004 Data Initiative to study attitudes to education. Unsurprisingly, a higher education degree is not a guarantee for employment. In Georgia, about 27% of those with higher education remain unemployed. In Azerbaijan, it is about 18% and in Armenia 17%.
These figures reflect that in Georgia more people have higher education degrees. Moreover, they repeat the old insight that higher education does not provide the skills needed in the labor market. Still, it remains popular.
Although the migration data is limited, it appears that education is the third most popular reason why Georgians migrate. Preferred destination for Georgians is Germany, for Armenians the US, for Azerbaijanis Turkey or Russia.
Our data on education should become more interesting for the 2005 and 2006 datasets, as we can track longitudinal changes and have a broader reach in the countries. The actual numbers (in our dataset) and Kitiashvili’s study (in Georgian) are available, as usual, on our website.
