Albanians who arrived in Greece in the 1990s as unskilled laborers have steadily climbed to become construction company ...

Albanians who arrived in Greece in the 1990s as unskilled laborers have steadily climbed to become construction company owners, contractors, and employers of Greek workers. It is one of the more striking economic shifts in the country's recent history, and the numbers back it up. At the peak of Greece's construction boom around the 2004 Athens Olympics, an estimated 120,000 to 150,000 Albanian nationals were working in Greek construction. They made up roughly 75% of all foreign construction workers in the country at the time, and about 32% of all employed Albanian men worked in the building trades. They were favored for their work ethic and their basic command of Greek, which made communication on job sites easier. Then the financial crisis hit. Construction activity collapsed by more than 80%, and tens of thousands of Albanian workers either returned home or moved to Northern Europe, where countries like Germany, Sweden, and the UK were actively recruiting skilled tradespeople. By some estimates, between 75,000 and 100,000 Albanians left Greece during that period. Those who had acquired Greek citizenship used their EU status to move freely, many landing well-paid jobs across Western Europe. The ones who stayed rode out the crisis doing small repairs and renovations, mostly in tourist areas. Now, with Greece in the middle of a new construction surge driven by housing demand, tourism investment, and major development projects, those veterans are no longer on the scaffolding. They own the company. According to data from the Athens Chamber of Trade and Commerce, there are currently around 4,460 Albanian tax registration numbers active in Athens alone, with the construction sector accounting for the largest share. Nationwide, out of an estimated 10,000 Albanian business owners operating across Greece, more than 5,000 are believed to run construction or technical services firms, ranging from small renovation outfits to mid-size contractors. Some of those firms now employ Greek workers and are participating in major Greek industry trade fairs. #Greece #Construction #Immigration