Opening up professions is working
The liberalization of professions in Greece is gradually leading to an increase in employment, according to a study by the Center for Planning and Economic Research (KEPE) assessing the opening of 20 so-called closed-shop professions, which in 2014 saw the number of newcomers rise by 47.9 percent on average from before the liberalization in 2011.
Since 2013, when the provisions of the 2011 law saw wider implementation, the number of newcomers in those professions has posted a constant increase.
There are five professions in particular that started showing a significant increase in newcomers in 2012 compared to the period before the reforms, these being notaries, chartered surveyors, doctors, longshoremen and pawnbrokers.
The growth trend continued into 2013 and 2014, when there was also a rise in the number of tour guides, temping agencies and newspaper sellers, according to the KEPE data.