October: 120 thousand jobs lost: Greek economy enters recession

Greek labor market records the fourth consecutive month of contraction in employment. System data “Εργάνη” for October show a clear picture economic recession after the end of the tourist season and an increasingly pronounced dependence on flexible forms of work.

In October it was registered 301,206 new hiresbut the number of layoffs and expired contracts has reached 421 225. As a result, the country lost 120,019 jobs. Of these, over 315 thousand are related to the termination or completion of contracts, and more than 105 thousand are related to voluntary departures. Despite the scale, the figure looks slightly better than in October 2024, when losses reached 131,491 positions.

The downward trend began in the summer

The decline was not sudden. Back in July, 20,729 jobs were lost, in August – 2,542, in September – 9,196. The reasons are still the same: premature termination of contracts in tourism, catering, services And food industry. Regions with high seasonality sank especially quickly. Analysts expect layoffs in tourism to continue into November.

Despite a series of negative months, the overall result of the year remains positive: 308,105 new positions were created in the period January–September, and as of the end of October the balance was 188,086 positions. But the dynamics of recent months clearly show that the market is slowing down.

Rapid rise in underemployment

The rapid spread of underemployment. More than half of all new employees in October – 158,559 people — were hired on a part-time or rotating basis. Besides, 8,767 employees saw their contracts change from full-time to part-time status in just a month.

Result: 167,326 people worked in October on short-time basis, receiving an average net income of about 486 euroswhich effectively places most of them below the poverty line. These are mainly women and youth – groups that have traditionally been the most vulnerable.

Sectors: who holds and who falls

Employment support continues to be provided retail, manufacturing industry, construction, education And professional services. On the contrary, the decline is recorded in agriculture, public administrationand above all – in tourism and the food sector, where seasonality remains a decisive factor. As every year, in October the food service sector became the leader in layoffs, while the largest number of hirings was in education.

An image is emerging of the labor market, which officially maintains a positive balance for the year, but has already entered a slowdown phase. Flexible forms of employment are becoming the norm, and low wages are becoming the new reality for tens of thousands of workers.

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