The lack of skills that the Greek economy needs was highlighted in a recent study by EY Greece, the E-Business Research Center (ELTRUN) of the Athens University of Economics and Business and Endeavor Greece. The study was entitled “Mind the Gap: Bridging the gap between Higher Education and the Labor Market.”
Of the 430 departments, only 219 or 51% of graduates have direct employment prospects in the private economy.
At the same time, businesses have significantly increased their search for employees between 2020 and 2023.
The most sought-after jobs are in IT and customer service/sales.
Specifically, the specialties with the largest number of jobs are Software Development, Information Technology and Engineering, which correspond to 32.9% of all jobs.
It is also worrying that the employment rate of university graduates in Greece in the age group 25-64 (75.4%) is the lowest among the 27 EU countries, while in the age group 25-34, things are even worse.
On the other hand, the fact that there is a large number of students in postgraduate programs is encouraging.
The 25 Greek universities in collaboration with 54 institutions abroad offer a total of 1,290 master’s degree programs to approximately 35,000 master’s students and this greatly contributes to the second chance in education, especially for adults, and indeed in a dual way that includes both upskilling and reskilling.
The data regarding the emphasis of studies in STEM scientific disciplines is also encouraging.
