Exporters can offer more jobs and better pay

More exports mean more and usually better paid jobs, according to a study by the European Commission, which revealed that European Union exports to third countries support 36 million jobs across the bloc, up by 14.3 million or 66 percent from 2000.

The report showed that exports by Greek enterprises to non-European Union countries came to a total value of 24 billion euros last year while supporting 456,000 jobs, of which 29,000 concerned jobs supporting exports by other EU states to third countries. This means that 11 percent of jobs at exporting companies depend on exports conducted by other member-states. Likewise, the exports of Greek businesses to non-EU countries support another 33,000 jobs in other EU states.

Almost half (47 percent) of the workers in Greece whose positions depend on exports have medium-level skills, while another 27 percent have low skills and 26 percent are highly skilled, the survey indicated. Eighty percent of export-related professions concern services, nine percent are in the primary sector, 5 percent in basic minerals and the remaining 6 percent are distributed across all other sectors.