Greek job sector deficient
The number of Greeks employed in the knowledge-intensive sector as a percentage of the country’s labor market ranks as the second lowest in the European Union, according to figures released for 2002 by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical service. Among the EU’s 15 current member states, only Portugal registered a smaller percentage figure, while Greece trails most of the EU’s 10 prospective new members. The figures showed that Greece lags even further behind in the advanced-technology manufacturing sector, where it ranks last in the EU. In 2002, 12 million, or 7.4 percent of the EU’s total work force numbering 163 million, were employed in the advanced-technology manufacturing sector, while 54 million, or 33.3 percent worked in the knowledge-intensive sector. In recent years, the knowledge-intensive sector has expanded rapidly in the EU at an average annual growth rate of 3.1 percent between 1997 and 2002. During the same period, the advanced-technology manufacturing sector has registered an average annual growth rate of 0.9 percent. A mere 2.2 percent of Greece’s total work force is employed in the advanced-technology manufacturing sector. Portugal, second from last, registered a 3.3 percent figure. The country’s knowledge-intensive sector employs 22.7 percent of working Greeks, slightly above last-placed Portugal on 19.3 percent. In Germany, the EU’s largest economy, 11.4 percent of the country’s work force work in the advanced-technology manufacturing sector, which ranks as the EU’s highest rate. Italy and Finland follow, both with 7.4 percent. Prospective EU members the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia all registered rates higher than the EU average, these being 8.9, 8.5, 8.2 percent, respectively. Eurostat did not provide figures on Poland, Malta and Turkey.
