Greek Tourism Sector Creates 105,284 New Jobs in May

Stronger than ever, Greece’s tourism sector is again stimulating employment by creating 105,284 new jobs in May, according to labor ministry data released last week.

More specifically, based on Ergani system statistics, employment for May – coinciding with the official launch of the tourist season – declined by 3,441 jobs to 105,284 compared to the same month last year at 108,725.

The private sector accounted for 323,524 new hirings, up by an additional 15,355 against a total of 308,169 recorded last year. Dismissals in May were also up by 18,796 to 218,244 compared 199,444 in the same month a year ago.

Meanwhile, an additional 508 new jobs were created in the first five months of the year to 265,059 against the same period in 2018.

Flexible forms of employment, including part-time and rotation contracts, accounted for more than half of all new jobs, while 3,285 full-time contracts were converted in May to part-time employment, compared to 2,636 in the same month last year and 2,607 in April 2019.

More specifically, in May, 161,247 contracts – or 49.84 percent of the total –  were for full-time work, 126,811 for part-time employment (39.2 percent), and 35,466 for rotation contracts (10.96 percent).

According to the labour ministry, January-May 2019 performance was the best since 2001.

The hospitality sector accounted for the majority of new openings with 48,147 posts, followed by F&B at 26,581, retail (6,931) and wholesale (3,174).

Once again, waiters, service professionals and bartenders accounted for 22,014 new jobs, followed by hotel and restaurant cooks (15,931), and hotel chambermaids (10,346).

In terms of location, regions with the strongest inbound tourism traffic accounted for most of the hirings: the South Aegean Region (32,216), Crete (21,281) and the Ionian islands (20,473).