Nothing against high-quality service! Just the contrary – high-level service is one of the indicators of a nation’s social and industrial development, and it is absolutely welcome in Sakartvelo, but not that the entire nation be employed in the sphere of service. There indeed is a threat in the air that someday – not necessarily in a very remote future – we might all be turned into table servers, auto mechanics, sanitation workers, flight attendants, chefs, bartenders, hairstylists, security officers, guides, chauffeurs, porters, massage therapists, couriers, bellboys, and what not. I fully recognize that any kind of work a human being is doing in favor of and to the benefit of a fellow human being is a matter of honor and dignity, and deserves our respect and consideration. On the other hand, it might be a little frustrating that the God-given talent of the Georgian people be used only in the sphere of service. As a matter of fact, we might very well be faced with the fact that the nation is compelled to massively undertake service-kind jobs if we keep building so many hotels, restaurants, service centers, entertainment spots, and divertissement enterprises. Somebody should be running all that, and if we, the Georgians, don’t do it, then we will have to bring additional workforce into the country. Seems like we have found ourselves between the hammer and the anvil. Not easy to take it lightheartedly, is it?
Fortunately, while service roles are part of the economic landscape, they do not represent the entire scope of the nation’s economic development or future job market. The hospitality and service industries are certainly very important and, naturally, they are growing along with the development of the entire country, particularly due to tourism, but we rather need to be a country of diversified economy with significant growth in higher-skilled sectors, and not solely a nation reliant on jobs like waiting, driving, and cleaning. Hence, a more varied labor market is asking for the development of industries such as information and communication (IT/programming), financial and insurance activities. The tourism industry is a key government priority and has seen significant recovery and growth, which does increase demand for related jobs. Georgia’s economy includes significant activity in wholesale and retail trade, construction, manufacturing, and agriculture, forestry, and fishing. The government and private sector are investing in various areas, including infrastructure and advanced manufacturing. There is a high demand for skilled professionals such as software developers, financial analysts, accountants, specialist medical practitioners, and various types of managers. At the same time, Georgia faces challenges with labor shortages and a lack of specialists in some areas, which is a key focus for policymakers. Emigration is also a factor, with many Georgian men and women working abroad in various professions and sending transfers back home.
This said, I have always been thinking that this nation is ready to export the fruits of its intellectual labor and talent for arts. I don’t really know how many people in the world might be aware that Sakartvelo has its own National Academy of Sciences (a purely Soviet relict, but a good relict!), and that Academy has a quarterly scientific bulletin (that’s the way it is titled in English), called MOAMBE (“story-teller” – the literal translation into Georgian). The edition is printed in English, accompanied by a Georgian-language synopsis for every published article. The articles are fundamental and refer to almost every walk of life and every field of science and humanities, like mathematics, mechanics, mechanical engineering, informatics, physical chemistry, materials science, metallurgy, geophysics, geology, hydrology, ecology, entomology, botany, zoology, industrial biotechnology, microbiology, human and animal physiology, biopolymeric materials, organic chemistry, physiology, medical science, philology, linguistics, psychology, sociology, economics, history. Frankly, I would never believe that this is true if I didn’t have the volume right in my hands. This is so serious! A nation of only 3.5 million people is capable of finding the talent and power enough within itself to produce a book like this one four times a year – full of fundamental articles in so many fields, actually, in every field mankind is busy researching. This literary fact clearly corroborates the presence of effective and fruitful intelligence in this country. All these articles have the potential of turning into a life-size reality that could serve mankind.
The question that is asking to be asked right now is: Would it be fair and smart enough to waste a nation like Sakartvelo on just a service industry? I don’t know, probably not! The true judgment will only arrive after we have seen the effect of either version of action, but we’ll have to be waiting for the answer for quite a while.
Blog by Nugzar B. Ruhadze
