An impressive jump in employment has been recorded in recent years in Greece, in yet another indication that the labor market is continuously and dynamically recovering from the economic crisis and the shock of the pandemic, supporting the growth and increase of of income.
According to ELSTAT’s latest report on living conditions, the employment rate in our country for the 20 to 64 age group was 71.7% in the second quarter of this year. This is the best performance at least since the outbreak of the crisis and represents an increase of more than 10 points compared to 2019, when it was measured at 61.2%, and almost 17 points compared to 2015.
In September’s latest unemployment measurement by ELSTAT, the number of people employed topped 4.32 million, the fourth-best performance since 2010. The top three monthly estimates were again recorded this year.
It is noted that the employed have exceeded 4 million continuously since July 2021, which reflects the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs after the end of the global health crisis, amid high growth rates.
Employment is the “other side of the coin” of unemployment. The unemployment rate measures citizens who are actively looking for work but cannot find it, while the employment rate concerns citizens who participate in productive activities, either as employees or as self-employed.
Unemployment in Greece has decreased by almost 10 points since July 2019, falling to the lowest level in 17 years, but this indicator alone could hide part of the truth, as the decrease in unemployment could be due to a wave of retirements or the exit of people who are of working age, but are disillusioned and therefore not looking for work.
In the case of Greece, however, the jump in the employment rate over the last six years shows that the reduction of unemployment to pre-crisis levels is not a “statistical trick”, but is accompanied by a drastic increase in the number of citizens who have found work and participate in economic activity.