New Hirings In Private Sector Jump To Highest Level Since 2008

New hirings in the private sector jumped to the highest level since 2008 in the first five months of 2013, the Labor ministry said on Monday. According to a report quoting data collected by "Ergani" -an electronic system offering real time data over labor flows in the country- the Greece΄s labor balance showed a total of 76,193 new job positions created in the first five months of the year, which is up sharply as opposed to 9,129 in the corresponding period n 2012.

This figure is the highest recorded in that period since 2008.

New hirings totaled 368,852 in the January-May period, up 21 pct from the same period last year, while dismissals totaled 292,659 in the same period.

Wage employment in the private sector grew in May, with 55,729 new job positions created in the month.

New hirings totaled 124,295, while dismissals totaled 68,562. This figures is up 33.27 pct compared with May 2012. Most new hirings were recorded in the tourism sector, while Attica (27,107 hirings), Southern Aegean (25,300), Crete (20,597), Central Macedonia (16,221) and Ionian Islands (11,866) recorded the highest new hiring figures among the country΄s regions.

Labor, Social Insurance and Welfare Minister, Yiannis Vroutsis told the state news agency that the figures were "another positive signal in the field of employment", adding that "this encouraging development will not allow us to be complacent. Instead, we are closely monitoring trends and intensify our efforts to deal with unemployment, the most painful dimension of the crisis".