Υπ. Labor: Reducing unemployment and raising wages despite the crisis

The data from the human resources survey of ELSTAT, but also from the ERGANI system show that a series of positive developments are underway in the labor market, both in terms of unemployment and wages.

Unemployment reduction by 4.4%

According to ELSTAT, unemployment has fallen by 4.4% since ND took over the country. (From 17.2% when SYRIZA was defeated in the 2019 elections, to 12.8% in January 2022). In January 2022 the country had the lowest unemployment rate since July 2010 (12.8%) and the lowest number of unemployed since March 2010 (587.1 thousand).

The decline in unemployment is greater among women and young people, two population groups that have been particularly hard hit by the crisis.

In the third quarter of 2021 the employment rate rose to 63.3% (the highest since the third quarter of 2010) while the number of employees exceeded in June 2021 the psychological barrier of 4 million for the first time since August 2011.

According to a note from the Ministry of Labor, “all this despite the coronavirus crisis and the relative negative forecasts for unemployment. These positive developments were not accidental. They became a reality due to the tax, budget, licensing, labor and insurance policies of the government which encouraged investment and created new jobs. ”

Wage increase

This positive picture is also confirmed by the data of PS ERGANI which records the paid employment in the private sector. In particular, in the four years 2018-2021:

– Increase of the average monthly salary by 4.3% (from 1,072 to 1,118 euros)

– Reduction of employees who receive up to 700 euros per month by 9.8% and increase of those who receive more than 1200 euros by 14.8%.

According to the Ministry of Labor:

“The reduction of the insurance contributions adopted by the government, in combination with the tax reliefs, increased the disposable income of the employees. Indicatively:

– For a monthly salary 1,000 euros the benefit goes up to 3.2% (355 euros per year) while for a monthly salary 2,000 euro reaches the 3.5% (691 euros per year).

– For workers receiving the minimum wage the cumulative benefit from the above reforms and the increase of the minimum wage by 2% from 1.1 / 2022 ranges from 3.97% to 5.5%, depending on the three years they have completed.

Great challenges of course in the labor market they remain. No one is celebrating the unemployment rate, despite the decline, or the low participation of women and young people in the labor market. However, there have been significant improvements that have not been made by chance and should be noted.

In the near future, government policy will further benefit the employed and unemployed:

– With the new significant increase in the minimum wage from May 1st.

– By proliferation of programs for subsidizing the employment of the unemployed. The pace of the relevant programs has already tripled compared to the SYRIZA period and only for 2022 the subsidy of 86,000 jobs is foreseen by OAED. At the same time, the programs of the Ministry of Labor “first stamp” for young people and coverage of insurance contributions for 50,000 companies when they hire unemployed people are running.

– With the further reduction in unemployment thanks to the development of the economy, as predicted by all international organizations.

– With the Introduction (from June gradually) of digital work card which will be a guarantee for the respect of the working hours and overtime of the employees “.