Greece Secures Only 25% of Required Foreign Workforce for 2025, Struggles to Fill Key Sectors

Greece is facing a significant labor shortage as the country has managed to secure only a quarter of the foreign workers it needs to meet its employment demands for 2025.

According to reports, approximately 90,000 foreign workers have entered Greece so far this year—just 25% of the 360,000 estimated to be required to support sectors like tourism, catering, agriculture, and construction.

This shortfall suggests that three out of four vacant positions are expected to remain unfilled in 2025, a gap that could have serious implications for key industries, particularly tourism, which contributes roughly 10% of Greece’s GDP.

Government Agreements and Recruitment Efforts

In response to this looming shortage, Greek authorities have actively pursued bilateral agreements aimed at bringing in additional labor from abroad. One notable example is a bilateral labor agreement with India, which is expected to provide 50,000 Indian workers by the end of summer 2025. These workers will support multiple sectors, with recruitment and deployment scheduled to proceed throughout the year.

This agreement is part of broader efforts to attract third-country nationals for employment, especially in low- and semi-skilled roles across tourism, agriculture, and construction.

During the 2023–2024 period, Greece required over 147,000 foreign workers, and an additional 32,517 worker transfers from third countries were approved in 2024 alone. Many of these positions were filled by unskilled laborers, including land workers, builders, factory operators, and seasonal employees.

Breakdown of 2025 Employment Needs

For 2025, the Greek government has set the following employment targets:

• 89,290 positions across dependent employment, seasonal jobs, and highly skilled roles.
• 41,670 positions fall under dependent employment (46.7%).
• 45,670 positions are seasonal jobs.
• Only about 2,000 jobs are classified as highly skilled roles.

Additional labor needs include:

• 3,000 workers in manufacturing (pending transfer completions).
• 1,430 factory workers, primarily for food production, olive mills, and cheese manufacturing.
• 2,500 positions in healthcare, elderly care, and home assistance.

Despite these initiatives, the current shortfall reveals a serious gap in labor availability, with the government under increasing pressure to expedite foreign worker inflows to sustain vital economic sectors.

Source: Schengen.News