Zoom in salary employees plan 75% Greek business, with the majority (36%) being between 1% and 5%. Of course, there are also 4% who plan to provide a salary increase of 16% or more during 2023. In most of them, of course, Greek companies find that the requirements of what they are looking for Job they are “unrealistic” in terms of wages, and as a result do not find enough leaders. After all, this, that is, attracting competent managers, is one of the most important tasks of the time for 72% of enterprises. However, this year more than half of the enterprises are planning hiresAt the same time, 74% of employees say that if they find a higher salary or better working conditions in a competing company, they will leave their job. This is some of his current data labor market as recorded annually Randstad HR Trends Survey for 2023, as especially in recent years workplace in Greece is undergoing significant, continuous changes. The survey was conducted from December 2022 to the end of March 2023 with the participation of 440 executives.

And it shows that Greek businesses recognize three main areas of concern that will significantly impact the labor market this year: increasing costs (45%), securing and guaranteeing productivity (42%) and managing high energy costs (37%). In particular, when filling vacancies where there are difficulties, 66% of respondents consider unrealistic salary expectations of applicants to be the main problem. It is actually surprising that this percentage has increased by 17 percentage points compared to 2022. Additional difficulties in filling vacancies are, according to companies, the lack of work experience – specialization (51%), as well as the lack of an appropriate combination of skills (42%).

74% of employees say that if they find better pay or working conditions, they will leave their job.

A key takeaway from the survey is that businesses struggle to find the right people, with 72% citing attracting the best talent as the biggest challenge in their company’s HR process. Difficulties in both keeping employees engaged (59%) and developing talented and highly effective leaders (55%) follow as major barriers. To cope with the difficulties, the companies themselves admit that they need to turn to training programs (68%), continue to increase wages (56%) and implement a hybrid work model (34%).

Hiring is actually going according to plan: 54% intend to increase the number of employees in 2023 (however, recording a significant decrease in this indicator by 24 percentage points compared to 78% in 2022), while already 45% of businesses have created new jobs. . Finally, in terms of the pool of executives they could hire, there are 74% of existing employees who seem willing to leave their jobs for better pay or better working conditions.

Record new jobs in March thanks to tourism

The significant impetus given by tourism to the domestic labor market this year is visible from the first months of the year, in the data Information system “Ergani”, with March showing the best results in terms of job creation. The employment balance in the January-March quarter set a similar record.

In particular, in March, the number of job advertisements reached 250,239 people, and the number of layoffs reached 188,327 people, of which 102,377 people were related to the termination of indefinite contracts or the expiration of fixed-term contracts and 85,950 voluntary layoffs. Thus, the balance of paid employment flows in the previous month was positive by 61,912 jobs, the best figure since 2001 for which data are available. But also in January-March, the number of job advertisements reached 619,788 and layoffs reached 562,301 (332,062 terminations of indefinite contracts or expiration of fixed-term contracts and 230,239 voluntary layoffs). Thus, the balance of paid employment flows in the first quarter was positive by 57,487 jobs, which is also the highest level since 2001. Accordingly, high figures were recorded only in 2018: 55,494 new jobs in March and 55,580 new jobs in the corresponding first quarter. quarter of the same year.

In relation to 2022, according to the Ergani system, it turns out that March of this year showed better results by 25,539 positions compared to a total of 34,473 positions created in the same month of the previous year. Also, in the first quarter of January-March, there were 33,729 more new jobs, compared to 23,758 that arose in the corresponding period of 2022.

According to qualitative data collected through the Ergani system, almost half of the 61,912 new jobs created in March were in tourism-related employment, indicating the positive impact on the labor market of the start of the tourist season. It is significant that 24,150 new jobs were created in the tourist accommodation sector, and another 5,630 jobs in the catering sector. But even in the specialty with a positive balance (the predominance of hiring over dismissal), those out of 6427 waiters and 6277 waiters stand out. New jobs were created mainly for women (33,857), followed by men (28,055), confirming the impact registered in the domestic market due to the opening of summer tourism facilities.

Specifically, the industries with the highest positive hire/fire balances are housing (+24,150), catering (+5,630), education (+4,716), retail (+2,993), and public administration/defense/welfare. (+2 730). On the contrary, negative indicators, i.e. the predominance of layoffs, represented in the areas of creative activity (-151), postal/courier transport (-150), broadcasting (-82), finance (-39) and the insurance sector (-35).

Regional data show that the most jobs were created in the southern Aegean (15,117), where several popular tourist destinations are located.

Of course, the data also shows a significant problem with the quality of new jobs, with almost 45% of hires being flexible work. In particular, out of the total number of 250,239 people hired in March, the majority, 140,314 people, or 56.07%, were made on a full-time basis. Another 88,523 people (35.38%) were hired on a part-time contract, and 21,402 people (8.55%) were hired on a rotational basis.