The books, stationery and other goods catego-
ry registered losses of 28%, while the furniture-
electrical equipment-household equipment
sector lost 25.8%.
Not even the food sector was spared by the crisis,
as it registered a 10.6% drop during these two
years. Market analysts argue that such a reduc-
tion, in a sector dominated by inelastic expenses,
is mainly due to a massive consumer shift
towards private label products, and not to a drop
in the quantity of food purchases.
In the other sectors, the drop in sales exceeded
very beginning, the effects from other social ten-
sions (the December 2008 riots in the centre of
Athens), the protests of other sectors (the mass
transportation means strikes of last December),
and the “popular wrath” caused by price increas-
es, irrespective of their cause.
But commerce deserves more attention from the
State, since it is the largest employer in Greece.
According to official data from the Hellenic
Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), retail and whole-
sale trade enterprises have managed, despite the
“bleeding” of the past three-years, to maintain
employment at above 800,000 workers, account-
ing for 18.2% of the total number of workers or
15.9% of the total workforce (including the job-
less). Agriculture and Manufacturing, which
account for 11% and 9.3% of the total workforce
respectively, are left far behind.
According to ELSTAT’s Labour Force Survey, in
the two-years of the crisis, that is from the third
quarter of 2008 till the third quarter of 2010:
•
the number of persons employed in the sector
decreased by 29,900;
•
the number of entrepreneurs in the sector
decreased by 27,600, of which 11,200 were
employers and 16,400 own-account workers.
However, it is worth noting that in its last meas-
urements for 2010 ELSTAT recorded an increase
in the number of employees by 19,000 people as
compared to 2009. This increase, which is more
obvious in the second half of 2010, is attributed
by commentators to the increase of flexibility in
the labour market, which enabled the increase of
part-time workers; in essence, this increase was
the result of breaking up one full-time job into
more part-time ones. In the same period, the
number of merchants decreased by 18,500.
As mentioned above, the ESEE estimates that in
the past two-years trade lost almost €6 billion, a
loss that exceeds €7.5 billion if automotive fuel is
also taken into account. However, according to
ELSTAT data for the 11-month period from
January to February, the losses in constant prices
may be much higher, reaching €9 billion (more
than €10 billion when taking automotive fuel into
account). More specifically:
•
In the 11-months from January to November the
overall retail trade turnover index (i.e. sales at
constant prices) decreased by 16.6% as com-
pared to the same period of 2008.
•
Excluding automotive fuels, this drop stands at 15.1%.
•
The sector that was most severely hit by the cri-
sis was that of gas stations, whose sales seem
to have decreased by more than 35% in con-
stant prices during the two-years of the crisis.
Trade with Greece
47
