Eurostat: Greece has the 2nd lowest employment rate in the EU

Greece has the second lowest employment rate in the EU in 2023, while Greeks are among Europeans with qualifications higher than those required for their jobs, according to Eurostat data which were released today.

Specifically, the employment rate of EU citizens in 2023 hit a new record high, with employed people aged 20 to 64 exceeding 75% (195.3 million), according to Eurostat data. The EU employment rate in 2023 is the highest since records began in 2009 and marks three consecutive years of growth, after employment fell to 72% in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Among the EU countries with the highest employment rates are the Netherlands (84%), Sweden (83%) and Estonia (82%), while the lowest rates were recorded in Italy (66%), Greece (67%) and in Romania (69%).

What are considered overqualifications?

In 2023, the proportion of highly qualified (overqualified) employed people in the EU was 22%, with 21% for men and 23% for women. It is noted that “highly qualified” employees are defined as persons with higher education who are employed in professions that do not require such a high level of education.

The highest percentages of overqualifications in the EU were recorded in Spain (36%), Greece (31%) and Cyprus (30%), while the lowest percentages were recorded in Luxembourg (5%), Denmark and the Czech Republic (13%).

In 18 of the 27 EU countries, women had higher overqualification rates than men, with the biggest differences in Malta and Slovakia (both +8 percentage points) and Italy (+7 percentage points).

However, in 9 EU countries, men had higher rates of overqualification, with the biggest differences in Lithuania (+5 percentage points), Latvia (+4 percentage points) and Bulgaria (+3 percentage points).

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