Greek Tourism Curbs Joblessness in April

Photo by Greek Travel Pages (GTP)

Greece’s tourism sector is tackling unemployment head on, creating 100,246 new jobs in April this year marking a third consecutive month on the positive, according to data from the labor ministry’s Ergani system released this week.

Compared to the same month in 2017, April this year accounts for an additional 8,114 new job openings with four-month data showing an additional 155,826 new positions.

Photo source: Pixabay

According to Ergani statistics, of the total recruitments, 149,051 or 55.60 percent were for full-time positions with the remaining 44.40 percent concerning part-time or rotation contracts.

More specifically, the number of recruitments in April 2018 came to 268,072 with departures at 167,826. Over the four-month January-April period, the number of hirings came to 768,435 jobs and 612,609 departures.

The hospitality sector once again accounted for the majority of hirings at 52,609, followed by F&B services at 23,218, retail at 4,879, travel agencies and tour operators for 2,997 new jobs and rental services 1,781 jobs.

Rhodes, Island Photo Source: http://likenoother.aegeanislands.gr

In terms of occupation, employees in tourism were in the highest demand: waiters and bartenders accounted for 24,029 jobs, followed by hotel and restaurant cooks (15,052) and hotel chambermaids (11,226).

With regard to location, Rhodes accounted for the most new employment positions in the first four months of 2018, with 18,518 new jobs, followed by Heraklion on Crete, Chania, Halkidiki, Santorini, Corfu, Kos, Attica and Mykonos. Broken into region: the South Aegean accounted for 33,679 new jobs, Crete for 25,977 and the Ionian islands for 11,797.