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🇬🇷 Greece /Economy & Trade

DETH-VΕΑ: Businesses have work, but cannot find workers, the market’s major problem

From Ta Nea · () Greek

Translated from Greek and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Greek businesses in manufacturing, small industry and skilled trades are delaying or rejecting new work because they cannot find enough employees.
  • The issue emerged during a discussion at the 90th Thessaloniki International Fair involving Athens Chamber of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises President Konstantinos Damigos and Labour Relations Secretary-General Nikos Milapidis.
  • Participants called for stronger vocational training, closer links between schools and businesses, and better integration of migrants already in Greece.

Greek businesses are turning away work because they cannot find enough people to do it. The labor shortage has become one of the biggest obstacles to growth in small industry and manufacturing, according to a discussion at the 90th Thessaloniki International Fair.

The discussion brought together Konstantinos Damigos, president of the Athens Chamber of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, and Nikos Milapidis, secretary-general for Labour Relations. It focused on a new paradox in the labor market: unemployment is falling and employment is rising, yet businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit, especially for manufacturing, small-industry and technical jobs.

All businesses have a staff shortage, in manufacturing, small industry and the technical professions.

· Konstantinos DamigosThe Athens chamber president described the labor shortage facing Greek businesses.

Milapidis said the decline in unemployment followed systematic policies in recent years, but argued that the shortage of staff had now become the central challenge. Businesses are expanding, he said, but that expansion requires technology and a suitably trained workforce.

We are turning away and delaying jobs because we do not have staff.

· Konstantinos DamigosHe explained how the shortage is directly affecting companies and new orders.

Damigos described the situation facing companies directly: “All businesses have a staff shortage, in manufacturing, small industry and the technical professions.” After a decade of economic crisis, he said, growth had returned to a market without the workers businesses needed. “We are turning away and delaying jobs because we do not have staff,” he said.

He also argued that attitudes toward technical professions must change. The idea that a child who is not academically inclined should be sent into technical work no longer applies, he said, because these jobs require specialization. The state, businesses and families must create new incentives for young people, he added.

The idea that a child is not academically inclined, so I should send them into technical work, does not apply.

· Konstantinos DamigosHe called for a change in attitudes toward technical professions.

Damigos proposed using migrants already in Greece who want to work, suggesting that the Migration and Asylum Ministry could cooperate with chambers to connect people in accommodation facilities with businesses seeking staff. Milapidis called permanent migration a useful contribution, but said it would require language and cultural training and a structured, decade-long plan. He also said businesses themselves should become schools, with the Public Employment Service supporting training and retraining, particularly in the era of artificial intelligence and lifelong learning.

We need to make the businesses themselves schools.

· Nikos MilapidisThe labour relations secretary-general stressed workplace training and lifelong learning.
About this summary

Originally published by Ta Nea in Greek. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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