Crete official says 23,000 people remain unemployed as tourism sector seeks foreign staff

Kyriakos Kotsoglou, the delegated regional councilor for Tourism, says data compiled by the Decentralized Administration of Crete show 28,756 people were registered as unemployed on the island by the end of July, of whom only 5,942 received unemployment benefits, while 3,435 posted workers recruited from third countries were employed in Crete at the same time.

Kotsoglou said he contacted the Decentralized Administration of Crete to check the current figures for foreign workers brought in through the labor mobility scheme, as well as the number accumulated by the end of July. He said the total of 3,435 posted workers currently employed in Crete did not surprise him and may even be lower than he expected.

Unemployment figures raise concern

According to the data he cited, 28,756 unemployed people are recorded in Crete, of whom only 5,942 receive benefits, leaving roughly 23,000 people without work during the height of the tourist season. “The fact that we have 28,756 unemployed, of whom only 5,942 are subsidized and the remaining roughly 23,000 are simply sitting idle, while we are looking abroad for workers in tourism, that is what worries me,” Kotsoglou said.

He said there is no single explanation behind the figure. Some people cannot find the type of job they are looking for, others lack the required training, and others want to work but are unwilling to accept seasonal employment conditions.

“Maybe we should look harder within DYPA”

Kotsoglou raised the question of whether employers exhaust the possibilities of the domestic labor market before turning to recruitment from third countries. “Maybe — I say maybe — all the employers who insist on hiring from third countries should look a bit harder within DYPA [the Public Employment Service],” he said.

He said some hotel businesses are seeking a specific number of workers to cover genuine shortages, but in other cases entire departments, such as housekeeping or service, are staffed with workers from third countries. He argued this practice limits employment opportunities for local workers and can create communication problems with visitors. “Visitors have already started complaining about the drop in the level of communication in hotels. This is a problem,” he said.

Responsibilities across state, employers and workers

Kotsoglou did not limit his criticism to hoteliers, saying the state also needs to address the issue more broadly so that seasonal work becomes more attractive. “Maybe our state needs to make the seasonal profession a bit more attractive and subsidize employment?” he said, adding that training and skills development for unemployed people in the tourism sector are needed.

He also referred to the Higher Schools of Tourism Education (ASTE), saying they require substantial upgrading rather than announcements about upgrading. At the same time, he said workers themselves bear some responsibility. “Maybe we, the workers, also need to get up off the couch and leave behind the ‘great resignation’? I’m tired of the argument that ‘I don’t work and I’m against everyone because it’s not enough for me,'” he said.

He clarified, however, that not all unemployed people can be placed in the same category, as some genuinely want to work but cannot find employment conditions that meet their needs. He said addressing the problem requires a combination of training, subsidized employment, and efforts to extend the tourist season in order to reduce the impact of seasonality — a season that has already seen record traffic at Crete’s airports and continued hotel investment on the island.

“We should stop treating it like a festival”

Kotsoglou closed his remarks with a reference to the Voukolies festival, asking “whether on employment matters we — workers, employers and the state, or part of them — should stop treating it ‘like a festival.'”

He described the July figures as a strong warning sign, since the 28,756 unemployed were recorded at the peak of the season, before seasonal workers completing their contracts are added to the total from September onward. He said the issue extends beyond whether available labor exists, touching on the broader employment model in Cretan tourism, seasonality, training, business hiring choices and the attractiveness of the jobs on offer.