Wish you worked here? Greece races to fill hospitality jobs gap

Outside the Karyatis taverna - in a plaza of palm trees just a short distance from the Acropolis - the notice says it all: "Seeking staff, chefs, waiters, kitchen personnel."

- Helena Smith

Record numbers of tourists are expected to visit Athens this summer, and so the restaurant's owners are taking no chances. As peak season approaches, workers are in short supply.

"It's becoming harder and harder to find employees," said Dimitris Stathokostopoulos, who runs Karyatis with his brother. "Tourism is definitely on the rise, but these days Greeks prefer to work nine-to-five office jobs that don't require putting in hours at night, or over the weekend."

With an estimated 80,000 job vacancies still to be filled in the food and hotel sector, fears are growing for an industry that - at 25% of GDP - is the engine of the Greek economy.

Nationwide, hoteliers are in a race to find desk managers, door staff, cleaners, lifeguards, waiters and cooks. On big-draw islands such as Crete and Rhodes, reports of hoteliers poaching staff from rivals with promises of better pay and conditions have soared. "It's partly a legacy of the [Covid-19] pandemic, which all of Europe has felt, but in Greece the problem is particularly acute," said Giorgos Hotzoglou, president of the Panhellenic Federation of Workers in Food Service and Tourism. "What we're seeing is an unprecedented lack of qualified workers, especially in the hotel and food industry, following the exodus of employees during the lockdown."