Greek Tourism Sector Created 7 in 10 New Jobs in May

The tourism sector accounted for seven in ten new jobs for the month of May, according to data from the labor ministry’s Ergani system released this week.

In view of the optimistic outlook for this year’s incoming tourist traffic, a total of 89,534 new openings became available in May, 42,871 of which were in the hospitality sector, 19,952 in F&B and 2,389 in rental services.

According to ministry data, a total of 215,304 employment positions were created in the first five months of 2017 – the best five-month performance since το 2001.

Full-time employment accounted for 50.75 percent of all new contracts signed in May: 134,264 were full-time contracts, 98,350 part-time contracts (37.17 percent) and 31,973 rotation contracts (12.08 percent).

The hospitality sector accounted for the largest number of hirings at 42,871, followed by F&B services at 19,952, retail 7,833, wholesale 3,904, and rental services at 2,389. Demand for waiters and bartenders was the greatest at 18,841.

Meanwhile, the turnover index in the accommodation and food service activities sector in the first quarter of the year grew by 1 percent compared to the same period last year.