Studies, data show thousands of vacant job spots in Greece requiring skilled workers, staff

Greece’s job market again appeared “skewed” this month, based on the latest data released, given that official unemployment remains at 12 percent, although a disproportionate number of job spots for specialized professionals and tradesmen remain vacant.

According to the statistical authority (EL.STAT), businesses are increasingly finding it difficult to fill open positions.

Specifically, in the second quarter of 2021, vacant positions, as recorded by the authority, totaled more than 12,100, up from nearly 5,600 in 2019, an increase of 117 percent. The same figure for Q2 2022 reached 27,246, up by 123.7 percent.

Based on EL.STAT’s methodology, a “vacant job spot” is considered a new position, and refers only to on-the-payroll wage-earners.

Recent studies gauging the job market in the east Mediterranean country show that five sectors of the economy – sans tourism – struggle to find skilled staff, with 78 percent of queried employers struggling to fill vacant positions. The most acute problem of finding skilled employees is reported in the sectors of tourism, light manufacturing, construction, business services, technology-telecoms, health services and social services.

According to the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), certain specific vocations have the highest demand, but with few candidates, such as technicians for IT applications, networks and telecoms, as well as IT hardware; logistics supply managers; production electricians; industrial facility maintenance and automation techs; industrial equipment operators; heavy machinery operators; metalworks craftsmen and foodstuffs process operators.