Labor ministry boasts of banner year for new job creation in 2018

The labor ministry on Monday announced that the number of wage-earners increased significantly in 2018, with a net increase between hirings and firings totatling roughly 14,000.

In a bid to boost the government’s credentials in terms of job creation, as 2019 is an election year, the ministry said the figure is the second highest since 2001, with the best performance being, the same source noted, in 2017.

Conversely, critics have pointed out that the labor ministry’s figures do not take into account the tens of thousands of Greek citizens that emigrated abroad – primarily to other EU countries – for better job prospects since the economic crisis began in late 2009, and the number of long-term unemployed people that “dropped out” of the labor market and are now part of the economically non-active population.

For December 2018, the number of hirings was 184,941, with firings at 178,971.

Overall in 2018, new hirings reached 2.668 million, up from 2.527 million firings.