Greece: Unemployment Over 10%, Yet 150,000 Job Vacancies

As Greece gets warmed up for the summer tourist season, the annual grab from employers to fill seasonal positions is further exacerbating preexistent labor market shortages, as an estimated 150,000 jobs remain unfilled while unemployment stays above the 10% mark.

The Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) figures on job vacancies show that Q4 of 2023 posted an all-time-high of 38,111 unfilled jobs, compared to 20,927 in Q4 of 2022. This marks a 82.1% increase year over year, on top of the 42.2% increase between 2021 and 2022.

According to reports at OT.gr, the gaps are on account of three major trends: a shortage of hands in the booming construction sector, a persistent mismatch of skills between job seekers and vacancies in the IT sector, and the ever-growing Greek tourism sector.

And the Greek government’s efforts to help fill the gaps though bilateral agreements with non-EU countries to bring in third country national workers, at least seasonally, have proven to be insufficient for lower skilled jobs.

Offering more context on the tourism sector, OT.gr cited figures from the Panhellenic Federation of Hoteliers (known as POX), which reveal that 53,000 jobs remain unfilled, which actually amount to 80,000 once you include the catering industry.

Additionally, the construction sector has a backlog of 16 billion euros in projects with another 40 billion euros in the pipeline, according to OT.gr. This means that a wide range of positions need to be filled from machine operators to higher level management staff with engineering experience.

Looking ahead, OT notes that the IT sector is expected to suffer from around 10,000 job vacancies annually over the next 3-5 years, due to the rapid penetration of new technologies and insufficiencies in the education and vocational training system to adapt curricula.