The Greek economy seems to have left behind the years of crisis and is now on a stable growth trajectory. Despite the multiple challenges of the previous period, the majority of Greek business executives maintain their optimism about the growth prospects of the Greek labor market. In the same context, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected the largest percentage of Greek businesses by permanently changing the work practices in some of them, a few, however, report that they were affected exclusively in a negative way.

More specifically, according to the RCI survey conducted during the period July – August 2023 among executives of companies based in Greece, the RCI Index, for the first half of 2023, maintained at consistently high levels (136.7), recording a slight decrease of 1. 7 points, from the historical record of 138.4 recorded in the 2nd half of 2022. Accordingly, a small drop was also recorded in the index of specialized and executive personnel, which stood at 130.9 points in the first half of 2023 from 133, 8 units located in the second half of 2022.

Despite the slight decrease, the results confirm the consolidation of the positive climate regarding the prospects for the development of the labor market in Greece. In the same context, the mild drop in the index observed is related mainly to executives' concerns about satisfying their increased needs for new staff.

This tempered optimism is further evident in the projections concerning key labor force indicators. A majority of participants, specifically 66.1%, anticipate an expansion in their workforce, and an overwhelming 96.1% of companies estimate that they will be in a position to provide at least a modest salary increase to their employees in the coming six months.

The impact of the crisis

The influence of the crisis on Greek businesses, stemming from the pandemic and the economic fallout of the Ukraine conflict, appears to be on a notable decline. Currently, 36.5% of executives report that their businesses are experiencing minimal to no impact from the crisis. In contrast, the equivalent percentage in 2022 was only 26.1%. Interestingly, when asked about their response to the crisis , company executives expressed their reluctance to take drastic immediate measures, such as staff reductions, salary cuts, or bonus decreases.

COVID-19 outbreak: One year on

Regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, one year on, the RCI survey for the first half of 2023 showed that almost three in out of four (73.3%) businesses were affected by the pandemic but very few (4.4%) of them in a clearly negative way.
The most noticeable impact has been on the working practices of employees, with the hybrid model becoming the dominant approach in the post-COVID-19 era. Simultaneously, a majority of respondents expressed the view that their economic situation is currently better than it was at both the onset and the conclusion of the pandemic.

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