Greece has the second lowest employment rate in the EU and at the same time the Greeks are in second place, among the European partners, with qualifications higher than those required for their employment positions.
The highest percentages of over qualifications in the EU were recorded in Spain (36%), Greece (31%) and Cyprus (30%), while the lowest percentages were recorded in Luxembourg (5%), Denmark and the Czech Republic (13%).
This means that many Greeks with high qualifications, even holders of a PhD, are forced to work in a position that requires less qualifications, e.g. university degree or high school diploma.
At the same time, there is a lack of talent and specialized executives in the labor market, several sectors lack workers, while in the primary sector the shortages in human resources are covered by invitations of workers from third countries, even though the employment rate in Greece is low.
Another contradiction is on one hand the lack of staff and on the other hand the 1,000,000 registered unemployed in the Manpower Organization.
These contradictions always existed, but they have become more acute over the last years due to the brain drain, which has led to hundreds of thousands of workers abroad (where they remain), as well as the lack of talent recorded in several industries, especially those that integrate new technologies.
The causes of the above distortions are basically sought in the absence of the connection between education and the labor market, the lack of retraining, but also in the employment conditions, which make the Greek labor market less attractive compared to corresponding positions abroad and lead to a “deficit” of workers.
