Three out of four businesses operating in Greece are individual, while more than six out of 10 appear to operate without employees, either because they are freelancers or because they are businesses whose operation is based on undeclared, “gray” labor.
The vast majority of enterprises in Greece are still focused on the service sector, with perhaps the most worrying element being the fact that at the core of new entrepreneurship, that is, businesses that are 5-6 years old, are tourism and food service – i.e. sectors that bring in quick revenue, but are extremely vulnerable to economic, geopolitical and climatic turmoil.
Given the above, it is no coincidence Greece continues to lag behind other European countries in competitiveness, that labor productivity remains extremely low, and that GDP growth comes mainly from private consumption.
According to data the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) reported on Friday, the number of active businesses operating in Greece in the sectors of industry, construction, trade and services amounted to 932,549 in 2023, up from 917,441 in 2022.
Exactly 697,484 of them were sole proprietorships – i.e. approximately 75% – while 574,264 – i.e. 61% of the total – did not have any employees. The sectors with the largest number of active enterprises were wholesale and retail trade with 222,793 enterprises, which constituted 23.9% of the total of the above enterprises, professional, scientific and technical activities with 161,222 enterprises, which constitute 17.3%, and followed by accommodation and food service activities with 108,413 enterprises, corresponding to 11.6%.
In 2023, manufacturing enterprises were just 6.15% of the total, but most of them were also very small, basically crafts, since out of the 57,326, almost half (28,203) appear to employ no employees and 19,424 employ one to four employees. As the European Commission pointed out in a recent report, some 70% of Greece’s small and medium-sized enterprises operate in low-knowledge-intensive service sectors and low-technology manufacturing sectors.