One of the structural problems of the Greek economy is the lack of a development model with sound investments and an export-minded character, both in the primary and secondary sectors; this mainly concerns the manufacturing sector, and especially new technologies, according to the latest interim report on the Greek economy described by the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE).
The report by the confederation’s Labor Institute (INE GSEE) points out that in the third quarter of 2024 the total volume of employment in the Greek economy appears to have decreased by 305,200 people compared to the third quarter of 2009.
The share of jobs in the secondary sector, in terms of the total volume of employment, was reduced during this period by 4.7 percentage points, specifically from 21.4% in the third quarter of 2009 to 16.7% in the third quarter of 2024, and in the primary sector by one percentage point (from 11.2% to 10.2%).
On the contrary, the share of employment in the service sector increased from 67.4% in the third quarter of 2009 to 73.1% in the third quarter of 2024. At the same time, the Greek economy also records particularly low performance in terms of the percentage of workers employed in dynamic high-tech sectors. This percentage stood at 3.4% in 2023, a value that, although increased compared to 2009 and 2019, is, according to INE GSEE, the second lowest among all EU member-states.
Notably, the percentage of people employed in 2023 in Greece in high-tech manufacturing sectors amounted to only 0.8% of the total number of people employed, a percentage that ranks this country, along with Romania and Croatia, in fifth place from the end among EU states.
The report says that between the third quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2024, the number of people employed in the tertiary sector increased by 205,600, against an increase in total employment of 312,300 people. In contrast, in the third quarter of 2024 it amounted to only 72.6% of the corresponding figure in Q3 of 2009.