This section presents data about the labor market. The main measures that determine how well the labor market functions are the availability of jobs and the level of wages.
The unemployment rate is the most common way of measuring the difficulty of finding a job. Its precise definition is given below.
The next graph presents the evolution of the unemployment rate.
The main source of data about the labor market is the Labor Force Survey which is conducted by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT). Each quarter, ELSTAT surveys approximately 27,000 households and surveys them about their labor market participation.
Each person over the age of 15 is classified to one of three distinct groups:
1) Employed, if they worked for pay or profit for at least one hour in the week of the survey
2) Unemployed, they were not employed but were available to work and actively looking for a job
3) Economically inactive, if they were not employed and were not looking for a job (e.g. pensioner, student, etc.)
The labor force consists of the employed and the unemployed.
The survey collects a lot of information about the demographic characteristics of the households, the characteristics of employment (including pay), and the length of unemployment. The data is provided in unadjusted or seasonally adjusted form, where seasonal adjustment removes predictable seasonal variation (e.g., due to tourism employment is higher in the summer than in the winter).
Additional sources of information about the labor market include the monthly bulletins of the social insurance fund EFKA (IKA until 2016), of the employment agency DYPA, and the government employee census.
The graph presents the evolution of the number of employed persons and the employment rate. The employment rate is the share of employed persons in the population.
The next graph presents the evolution of the number of unemployed persons and the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is the proportion of the labor force that is unemployed, i.e. the share of people who are willing to work but do not have a job.
The next graph presents the evolution of the number of economically inactive persons and the labor force participation rate. The participation rate is the proportion of the population that is employed or that seeks employment, i.e. that is economically active.
The next graph presents the evolution of the wage index in nominal and real (inflation-adjusted) terms. The wage index measures the evolution of the average wage in the economy.