Greece’s unemployment rate reached 10.6% in the first quarter of this year, up from 8.3% in Q4 2025 and 10.4% in Q1 last year, according to the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT). The number of unemployed rose to 508,401 people, showing a 28.7% increase compared to the previous quarter and a 4.2% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Long-term unemployed reached 249,000 people.
Read: ELSTAT: Unemployment rate at 9.5% in the country in April
ELSTAT: Highest unemployment rates and employment patterns
The highest unemployment rates are observed among women, people aged 15-19, in the South Aegean Region, and among individuals who completed only a few grades of elementary school. The largest percentage of the labor force is observed among men, people aged 30-44, in the Attica Region, among individuals who completed post-secondary education, and among people of foreign nationality.
During Q1 2026, the largest percentage of employed people work as employees (71.9%), while the percentage of self-employed without staff is also significant (18.0%). The part-time employment rate stands at 5.2%, showing a 3.8% decrease compared to the previous quarter and an 11.0% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The percentage of people with temporary employment stands at 7.3%, recording a 20.1% decrease compared to the previous quarter and a 2.3% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Professions with the highest percentage of employed people
The professions that concentrate the highest percentage of employed people are Professionals (23.3%) and Service and sales workers (21.9%). Compared to the previous quarter, the largest increase is observed among Professionals (3.5%), while the largest decrease is observed among Senior managers and executives (-7.5%).
Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, the largest increase is observed among Unskilled workers, manual laborers and small business owners (13.9%), while the largest decrease is observed among Skilled agricultural, livestock, forestry and fishery workers (-9.9%).
From the perspective of the evolution of the distribution of employed people in broad occupational groups, it is observed that since Q1 2014, the percentage of people employed in low-skilled non-manual occupations has been increasing, a trend that was somewhat reversed from 2021, while showing an upward trend again from 2023.
The percentage of people employed in skilled manual occupations shows a decline until 2020 and an increase in early 2021, stabilizing since then at 2014 levels. The percentage in high-skilled non-manual occupations follows an upward trajectory after 2015, with fluctuations, while the percentage of people employed in elementary occupations is relatively stable with an upward trend in recent quarters. The percentage of people employed in agriculture, forestry, livestock and fisheries shows a downward trend from 2014, which intensifies from 2024 onwards
