The high number of small- and medium-sized enterprises that employ a large percentage of workers – especially in sectors with low labor intensity – is one of the reasons why Greece is significantly lagging the EU in productivity. This exists beyond the years of crisis, which left a lasting mark on the economy due to low productive investments.
According to Alpha Bank’s weekly economic bulletin, an SME employee in Greece produces on average only a quarter (25.5%) of the value produced by an employee in a large enterprise. Estimates by the European Commission show that this is the lowest percentage in the EU, where the average is 60.9%.
In detail, almost one in two Greek employees (47.5%) is employed in very small enterprises with fewer than 10 staff, which generally find it difficult to reduce their operating costs and invest in new technologies. In the EU, the corresponding figure is 30.4%. Although these enterprises employ a much larger share of workers in Greece, they produce 23.5% of gross value added (GVA), compared to 20.4% in the EU.
In contrast, large enterprises with at least 250 employees, which record higher labor productivity, employ only 15.4% of Greeks and produce 41.7% of gross value added. In the EU, the picture is much more balanced, with large enterprises accounting for a much larger share of employment (36.3%), producing 48.3% of GVA.
