Employment in tourism reaches record number
The number of people employed in the tourism sector accounted for 10.6 percent of the workforce in the third quarter of 2018, the highest since 2009, according to a study by the Institute of the Greek Tourism Confederation (INSETE).
The study, which examined the course of employment in the sectors of accommodation and catering from 2009 to 2018, comparing it with other sectors of the Greek economy, demonstrated the contribution of tourism to economic growth and, by extension, to employment.
The study showed that employment in those sectors from July to September 2018 reached 411,100 thousand, the highest number since 2009, and higher than the previous record registered in 2017 (398,700 thousand).
INSETE attributed the rise to the recovery of tourism since 2014 that overcame the losses sustained in 2009-13.
Employment in the accommodation and food sectors increased by an average annual rate of 1.3 percent from 2009 to 2018, while it spiked from 2014 onwards.
Overall, employment in these sectors rose by 12.7 percent between 2009 and 2018.
At the same time, there was an increase in part-time employment since 2013 as a result of structural changes in the labor market, which was not at the expense of full-time employment.
In fact, part-time employment in Greece, both in accommodation and catering (16.3 percent) and in other sectors (8.5 percent), is about half compared to EU-28 levels.
