Greece will need 25 years to generate the necessary jobs considering its current pace and the enterprises mix, according to a survey by Endeavor Greece, the international non-profit organization that supports entrepreneurship.
“In order to accomplish that in less than a decade, it would have to triple the efforts focused on value-added sectors and double their success rates. Above all it would have to create the appropriate entrepreneurship ecosystem which will create, support and connect quality entrepreneur projects,” said the survey, which will be presented in the 3rd International Conference of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation on Filanthropy (June 26-27).
Greece has lost 1,000,000 jobs in the last five years, according to the survey. More than half come from three sectors – constructions, retail/wholesale and manufacturing – while whole sectors such as real estate have been practically vanished. Only three sectors managed to maintain or even increase their labour force: agriculture, food manufacturing and technology.
The survey pointed out that young Greeks were affected in a disproportionate way by the unemployment rise, with more than 500,000 jobs lost. Nevertheless, only half of the unemployment rate is a result of the economic slowdown and recession. The rest is a result of the traditional disadvantage of young people who are “outside the market”, a disadvantage that intensified during the crisis. Certain sectors, such as agriculture, food and specific professions – doctors, lawyers, bank employees, accountants – have made youth jobs obsolete, although they maintained or even increased positions for older professionals. In this context, more than 200,000 Greeks have left the country and have found a job abroad.
The survey pointed out that it takes a huge change and definitely bigger than the one usually described. It is clear that Greece has to focus on specific sectors (agricultural produce, food, manufacturing, tourism, logistics, technology) where it has the structural advantages of basic or human resources or geographical positioning.
Apart from major reforms and infrastructure upgrade, this shift of economic activity takes time, new skills and entails the natural movement of hundreds of thousands. It is estimated that more 640,000 people will have to change professional sectors and more than 500,000 will have to move outside Athens and Thessaloniki.
The question is who can create high quality jobs in the Greek economy’s sectors. Unfortunately, the report says, the majority of existing businesses is in no position to do this.
Most of the existing enterprises are structurally unable to increase employment. Furthermore, most of the small businesses are mainly self-employment companies and do not generate any more jobs apart from the entrepreneur-owner.

There is a minority of 3,000 existing companies that show high growth margins, invest in their personnel and are well placed to develop fast and create quality jobs. Those companies can create up to 200,000 new jobs. The rest of 800,000 jobs need to be created from new businesses. Some 10,000 new high-growth enterprises are needed, while the recent increase of startups is a good start.
The survey noted that the 200 startups that are established each year but they are not expected to create the hundreds of thousands of jobs that are needed. Young people, the survey says, must lead Greece’s transformation. Those people, either entrepreneurs or employees, have the ability to overcome Greece’s resistance to change.