Greece is taking another step toward the full digitization of the labor market as of Monday, as the use of the digital labor card is being expanded, a 2022 measure that is gradually being implemented to more and more key sectors of the economy.
As of November 3, these sectors will be electricity-natural gas-steam-air conditioning supply, wholesale and retail trade, and motor vehicle repair, financial and insurance activities, and administrative and support activities in tourism.
With this expansion, almost 2 million employees and over 280,000 businesses will be under the new regime of full-time recording. The development comes after a four-month pilot period, during which the Labor Ministry proceeded to consult with trade union and employer bodies in order for businesses to adapt to the new conditions.
According to ministry data, in the January-August 2025 period 4.24 million overtime hours were recorded, compared to 2.4 million in the same period in 2024. The increase reaches 76%, a figure that, according to market executives, “does not reflect more work, but more transparency.”
That is because, as the official data reveal, the digital labor card appears to reveal working hours that in the past remained undeclared (or underdeclared), bringing to light the true extent of overtime, especially in highly seasonal sectors.
It is no coincidence that the most impressive change is recorded in tourism, where declared overtime hours increased by 681% on an annual basis, from 60,356 in 2024 to 471,507 this year. In August alone, the peak month of the tourism season, the increase reached 573%.
A similar picture is evident in the food service industry, with an increase of 181% in the eight-month period and 295% in August.
Therefore, as the hundreds of thousands of overtime hours that were not declared in the past are now being officially recorded in the Ergani system, employers’ obligation for additional remuneration is also ensured, as employees are now paid for their actual work.
The increase in recorded overtime hours is also significant in other sectors, such as retail with +94% (from 244,975 to 474,263 hours), industry with +55% (from 1,285,290 to 1,987,574 hours), supermarkets (+20%) and banks (+12%).