Stournaras: Migration essential to filling labor market gaps

Migrants are essential to filling the labor and skills gap in the domestic labor market, the governor of the Bank of Greece Yannis Stournaras has said.

Speaking at the 2nd MD Forum in Athens, Stournaras noted that Greece faces significant labor shortages in key sectors of the economy, such as tourism, agricultural production, industry and construction, and many jobs remain vacant.

Given the country's demographic challenges and its aging population, the debate on the overall positive impact of migration on the Greek economy is more relevant than ever, he said.

Furthermore, migration due to climate change may surpass everything that went before it, as the ever-increasing frequency of extreme weather events will drastically increase global mobility, he continued.

"In this context, the host country's responsibility to define the institutional framework for...