Need to expand the workforce

The Labor Ministry will focus its efforts to increase employment on the large pool of more than 4.2 million people who are outside the labor force - i.e. neither working nor looking for work - while the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) said on Thursday the unemployment rate stabilized at a single digit (9.8%).

The people outside the labor force, under the age of 75, reached 2,994,624 according to the ELSTAT data for the second quarter of 2024. Their percentage decreased by 1.8% compared to the previous quarter and by 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year, as a significant part of them moved into the labor force, increasing employment, which of course remained at significantly low levels of 53.2%, while reducing the number of unemployed to 467,619 people - i.e. a decrease of 18.6%.

Despite the new jobs that seem to have been created in recent years, the...