Average salary in the Republic of Georgia at the end of the second quarter (Q2) of 2016 was GEL 1035.98 equaling about USD 389.
For the simplicity of further written and calculated, here is the exchange rates I used from Bank of Georgia website on December 14, 2016.
- USD to GEL: 2.6599
- EUR to GEL: 2.8222
If measuring in actual increase that is a huge increase by more than GEL 200 from GEL 773 in 2013. If converted to US dollars that is a drop from $442 in 2013. The truth, as I believe, is somewhere in the middle.
One thing haven't changed, thus - inequality on how many receives male and female employees. For example, male employees in average received GEL 1172.9 at the end of Q2 2016, while their female colleague just GEL 746.2.
The biggest salaries in Georgia have been received in financial intermediation (GEL 1,964 / USD 738), construction (GEL 1,398 / USD 525) and public administration (GEL 1,377 / USD 517), while the lowest were set at agriculture, hunting and forestry (GEL 531 / USD 199), education (GEL 544 / USD 204) and hotels and restaurants (GEL 692 / USD 260)
Average monthly nominal salary of employees by economic activity Q2 2016
For the following table I have used data provided by GeoStat.ge
| GEL | USD | EUR | |
| Financial intermediation | 1,964.5 | 738.6 | 696.1 |
| Construction | 1,398.6 | 525.8 | 495.6 |
| Public administration | 1,377.9 | 518.0 | 488.2 |
| Transport and communication | 1,244.4 | 467.8 | 440.9 |
| Production and distribution of electricity, gas and water | 1,219.1 | 458.3 | 432.0 |
| Mining and quarrying | 1,205.7 | 453.3 | 427.2 |
| Real estate, renting and business activities | 1,068.7 | 401.8 | 378.7 |
| Health and social work | 918.3 | 345.3 | 325.4 |
| Fishing | 907.1 | 341.0 | 321.4 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and personal and household goods | 837.3 | 314.8 | 296.7 |
| Manufacturing | 819.8 | 308.2 | 290.5 |
| Other community, social and personal service activities | 809.7 | 304.4 | 286.9 |
| Hotels and restaurants | 692.8 | 260.5 | 245.5 |
| Education | 544.3 | 204.6 | 192.9 |
| Agriculture, hunting and forestry | 531.2 | 199.7 | 188.2 |
| Total | 1035.96 | 389.47 | 367.07 |
Data source: GeoStat.ge
If looking on these data from a broader perspective, like average salary in former Soviet Union Republics, things are not as gloomy as they might seem at the first sight. Georgia, thus not the most advanced economy of the former Soviet Union republics, stays somewhere in the middle, with larger average salary than in Belarus, Kazakhstan. But less than in Russia or Baltic states. The biggest issue here is not the low average salary, but instead a problems with Georgian national currency against USD. But that's another topic.
If compared to average salaries in EU countries Georgia would take last position just after Bulgaria.