Around 55,000 new jobs are expected to be created in the construction sector amid the prospect of strong growth in domestic construction activity in the coming years, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security, Vassilis Spanakis, said speaking at a panel.
“The prospect of higher construction activity in the next few years is expected to create additional needs in the labor force of various specialties. This means that the total number of workers in the construction sector will increase within the next two years to around 250,000, according to the recent IOBE study, almost 50 to 55 thousand workers more compared to the total employment in 2022,” he stated.
Pillar of economic development
Spanakis underlined that the construction sector is a major pillar of the country’s economic development, “which, in recent years, has experienced a really significant growth.”
“In particular, based on IOBE research, published in March 2024, the production value of the construction sector was estimated at 12.8 billion euros in 2023, higher by 84% compared to 2017. This great mobility in the construction sector is expected, due to the government’s strategic policy, which restored the confidence of investors in our economy,” the Deputy Labor Minister commented.
“Immediate and effective” the government intervention
“Our government is aware of the problems that exist in the labor market in the construction industry and once again its intervention will be immediate and effective,” Spanakis and, specializing in the area of his competence, he emphasized: “The government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis proves in practice that at the center of its policy is the worker and especially his health and safety. With the aim of maximum safety for workers, including those in the construction industry, we have taken a series of institutional initiatives, such as:
1. We have provided for the suspension of work on heavy external works,
2. We have increased staff in the field of prevention and protection,
3. We have updated for the first time, after 35 years, the list of specialties that can exercise security technician duties,
4. We have strengthened the role of occupational physicians,
5. We have upgraded the level of supervision of the workers’ health and facilitated the work of the occupational doctors.
