The reduction of unemployment It is one of the main missions of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, according to the responsible minister, Ceramic Victoryin her inaugural speech at the event “Building Bridges between Human Resources and the Labor Market” held yesterday (17.6.2025)
The event of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security was significant with the participation of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the presence of ministers, MPs and crowds. The Minister, Niki Kerameos, in her opening speech, stressed that “one of the main missions of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security is to take initiatives to stimulate employment in the country, to reduce unemployment”.
The minister has praised the work of the Public Employment Service, which in recent years has organized 44 “career days” in 18 different cities in Greece, “through which thousands of people have found work” as he characteristically stated as well as the work of the Directorate -General for Labor Relations, Health, Health and Health.
At the same time, Ms. Kerameos referred to the “bridges” that “build” the ministry with the Greeks who left mainly in the difficult years of the crisis but not only, they went abroad in search of a better professional opportunity.
The minister even announced that the next event will take place on December 7 in New York.
“We will be there with too many businesses for a call to Greeks abroad who live in America to get them in touch with great businesses who are in search of staff.”
Ms. Kerameos has cited the most recent official numbers in order to highlight the contribution of these actions to reducing unemployment.
“The last official unemployment numbers in the last April show the lowest unemployment in the last 17 years. Unemployment in our country is at 8.3%. Mr President, unemployment, when you took over the country’s governance, was about 18%, 17.8% for accuracy. Since then it has been reduced by ten percentage points. April that has passed is the best April in the history of the Greek state. 134,000 new jobs were created. “
At the same time, he referred to the official data of Eurostat, according to which 660,000 people left our country from 2010 to 2023, and 420,000 have already returned.
“Our goal is to be useful in society. Every day, every hour, every moment to help our fellow citizens find work and help businesses find workers. Because, ladies and gentlemen, work is not just a right. It is dignity, it is creation, it is life. “
The following panels hosted workers who found a job through the “career days” and wanted to share their personal experience through this process of finding work.
Information and Communications Engineer who was unemployed at the end of 2024 he was confused that he visited the “Career Days” in January 2025, submitted 30 biographies in which he responded immediately to a plethora of companies who called him for an interview, and the first company was his resume and his resume was his resume. Starting for a new career, for a new horizon in my career. “
In another case, an electrical engineer working in the field of photovoltaic parks was addressed in September 2024 at the “Career Days” in Thessaloniki in search of a working environment with stability, prospects for growth, with professional consistency. As he revealed, he had the opportunity to talk to the company representative he works today and to interview the owner of the business today, with the recruitment coming a few days later. “Anyone who participates in these events will surely find a job and that is very good.”
A graduate of museology worked on a different subject and was fired. After encouraging her parents, she visited the “Career Days” and addressed a food industry company operating a wheat museum. As she pointed out, her specialty was not among what the company was looking for, but she expressed her intention to work in the museum, which she achieved a few days later. “And that’s how I found a job through the career days that no one would expect, but it’s worth going.”
The panel also included representatives of companies who shared the positive experiences they have gained from the cooperation of their business with the Ministry and the DBA to find human resources. Vice -President of the Board of Directors of the Great Food Industry and head of the Financial Management and Human Resources stated that despite initial reservations, her company has so far absorbed 70 employees through career days, attributing the success of this cooperation to the fact that the service is working on their business.
“While we were working with too many staffing companies, when there is a need for staff, we will first address our partners in DBA and then anywhere else and I think that says it all,” he said.
At the same wavelength is the experience shared by the Director of Human Resources of a large Greek pharmaceutical company who has revealed that his company has not only recruited through the “career days” both in Greece and abroad but intends to expand the next 12 months, That’s why. “
The public then had the opportunity to hear Greeks who worked abroad for years and made the decision to return to Greece. Through their personal experiences, they highlighted the benefits of returning and the role played by “career days” abroad in this transition.
A lawyer who recently returned, said: “I have a balance of professional and personal life that I never found abroad. And I am very happy that all this has become meritocratic and with the support of the state. “
Correspondingly, an economist who participated in the event talked about how the “career days” helped her take the next step: “It was very difficult for me to find the way I could go back and there I had the opportunity to get to know the livelihood companies.”
Research and Development Director who worked for 25 years abroad, before returning to Greece, stressed the importance of the experience of professionals from abroad: “People here need us, we who have gone out and need the skills and experience we have.”
In addition, a civil engineer underlined the change that has taken place in the Greek labor market in recent years: “The labor market in Greece has changed now. We can simply find a job as we want it, so no one can hesitate to go abroad for career days, specifically abroad because they came there, and come here. “
For their part, representatives of companies who participated in the event referred to the importance of these actions and their contribution to strengthening the Greek labor market: “The coordination we are now doing with the ministry in all these actions helps us also have a stronger and more coordinated voice. What we are looking at is to bring people back to Greece because Greece, as we know, has changed. Especially in recent years we have been seeing a different Greece. “
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis closed the event, stressing that: “The years of the crisis hundreds of thousands, mostly young Greeks and Greeks, left their homeland frustrated by a country that seemed to be a deadlock or potentially desperate to Greece. This has changed now. And I think that in order to make the decision to come back, obviously the days of career are extremely useful because they allow someone to have an overall picture of the labor market and the opportunities offered with a visit, one day, a job that would need a lot of effort to make it. But only that is not enough. There must be good jobs, there must be this feeling that I make a decision and I make it for sure that I will never need to go abroad again. “
Attending the event were Vice President of the Government Kostis Hatzidakis, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis, Justice Minister George Floridis, Minister of Social Cohesion and Family Domna Michaelidou, Deputy Ministers Konstantinos Tsagaropoulos, Deputy Foreign Minister George Kotsiras, Deputy Minister of Digital Governance Christos Boukoros, Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food Christos Kellas, Former Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security Panos Tsakloglou New Democracy Apostolos Vesyropoulos, the Commander of the DPA Spyros Protopsaltis, the Commander of the E-EFKA Alexandros Varveris, the Managing Director of TEKA Kimon Volikas, the Commander of the Equity Fund of Political Officers Independent Labor Inspection Authority George Tzilivakis as well as numerous Members.