This analysis was first published by the Georgian Institute of Labour Studies (GILS), an initiative of the Public Health Institute of Georgia. Read the original on labour.edu.ge →
Domestic workers — nannies, cleaners and carers, almost all of them women — work in private homes beyond the reach of labour inspection and largely outside pension and maternity protection. This analysis reviews the evidence on their numbers, conditions and legal status.
Domestic workers — nannies, cleaners, carers and cooks working in private homes — remain outside the effective protection of Georgia’s Labour Code. The best available estimate puts their number at around 18,000, almost all of them women, though the true figure is likely higher. An ILO regional exchange with Armenia has put the issue back on the agenda. This analysis sets out what is known about domestic work in Georgia and what ratifying ILO Convention No. 189 would require. (An earlier version of this page cited a figure of 120,000 domestic workers, which GILS could not verify; it has been corrected.)
Key Findings
- Estimates from Geostat’s Labour Force Survey put the number of people whose main job is domestic work at about 14,200 in 2017, 19,400 in 2018 and 18,000 in 2019 — around 1.1% of employment. The authors consider these lower bounds (ISET-PI / UN Women, 2021).
- About 99% of domestic workers are women (ISET-PI / UN Women, 2021; UN Women, 2024).
- Georgia has not ratified ILO Convention No. 189. The Labour Code does not cover domestic workers unless they are contracted through an employment agency, and courts have never ruled on whether domestic work is a labour relationship (UN Women, 2024).
- In 2019, 96% of domestic workers worked on oral agreements, and about 82% of full-time domestic workers worked more than 40 hours a week (ISET-PI / UN Women, 2021).
- No cases brought by domestic workers were found at the Labour Inspectorate, the Public Defender or five city courts for 2015–2020 (ISET-PI / UN Women, 2021).
1. Introduction
Domestic work enables others — often women — to participate in the labour market, yet domestic workers themselves are among the least protected. The ILO’s 2011 Domestic Workers Convention (No. 189) sets minimum standards for them. Georgia has not ratified it, and the government has not treated domestic work as a policy priority (ISET-PI / UN Women, 2021). The ILO recently convened representatives from Armenia and Georgia in Yerevan to discuss rights, representation and protection for domestic workers (ILO, n.d.).
2. How Many Domestic Workers?
The ISET Policy Institute’s regulatory impact assessment, prepared for UN Women, estimated the number of domestic workers from Labour Force Survey microdata. Because many domestic workers may conceal their work — for example to avoid losing social assistance — the authors treat the figures as lower bounds (ISET-PI / UN Women, 2021). There is no official, regularly published statistic.
3. Working Conditions
| Characteristic | Share |
|---|---|
| Women | 99% |
| Urban | 68% |
| Aged 35–70 | 88% |
| Oral agreement | 96% |
| Full-time workers usually working >40 hours/week | 82% |
| Net monthly earnings up to GEL 600 | 42% (22% refused to answer) |
Source: ISET-PI / UN Women (2021), from Geostat LFS. Shares are suggestive given small sample sizes.
A survey of 184 domestic workers in 2020 found that only 8% had a written agreement, 23% had experienced contract violations — most often unpaid extra tasks or overtime — and 83% would not turn to the courts, the Public Defender or the Labour Inspectorate in a dispute (ISET-PI / UN Women, 2021).
4. The Legal Gap
Domestic workers employed directly by households cannot apply to the Labour Inspection Service, which does not cover employers who are private individuals without a registered economic activity; the Inspectorate can enter a household only with a court order in suspected cases of forced labour or exploitation. Those employed directly are excluded from the funded pension scheme and from state maternity benefits; during COVID-19, they could not access the one-time support available to informal workers without documentation from an agency (ISET-PI / UN Women, 2021).
5. Discussion
Argument: recognition is the first step
The ISET assessment compared three options and found that a transitional approach — awareness-raising first, followed by legal recognition of domestic work as a labour relationship after two years — offered the highest net benefit (ISET-PI / UN Women, 2021). UN Women’s 2024 policy document similarly sets out options for recognition, social security coverage and fiscal incentives for formalisation (UN Women, 2024).
Counter-argument: regulation could drive work further underground
Households and workers value flexibility, and formalisation costs could reduce demand or push arrangements deeper into informality. This is why reduced tax rates, simple registration and awareness campaigns are central to any reform.
6. Conclusion
Georgia’s domestic workers are few in official statistics but largely invisible in law. Recognising domestic work as employment, enabling simple formalisation and preparing for ratification of ILO Convention No. 189 would extend basic protections to a group of workers — almost all women — who currently have almost none.
GILS Recommendations
- Recognise domestic work as a labour relationship in the Labour Code.
- Create a simple registration and reduced-tax scheme for households employing domestic workers.
- Extend the funded pension and maternity benefits to registered domestic workers.
- Publish regular statistics on domestic workers from the Labour Force Survey.
- Prepare ratification of ILO Convention No. 189, in consultation with domestic workers’ organisations.
GILS Position
Work in a private home is still work. GILS supports legal recognition and practical formalisation for domestic workers, building on the evidence and options already developed with UN Women.
References
- ISET Policy Institute / UN Women (2021). Regulatory Impact Assessment of ILO C189 — Domestic Workers Convention. Pignatti, N., Chitanava, M., Lobjanidze, M. & Tsulukidze, M. iset-pi.ge
- UN Women (2024). Invisible Hands: Formalization of Domestic Work in Georgia. unwomen.org
- ILO (n.d.). Decent work for domestic workers takes centre stage at regional exchange in Yerevan. ilo.org
- ILO (2011). Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189). Geneva.
Suggested citation: GILS Research Team (2026). Domestic Workers in Georgia: Outside the Labour Code. Editor: G. Pkhakadze. Georgian Institute of Labour Studies, Tbilisi. labour.edu.ge
GILS analyses are prepared with AI-assisted drafting. All figures and claims are verified against the cited primary sources and reviewed under the responsibility of the Editor.
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