Greek Labor Ministry: Reduction of unemployment rate and increase of wages in the last three years

The Ministry of Labor speaks about a series of positive developments in the labor market, citing data from the ELSTAT human resources survey, but also from the ERGANI system, regarding unemployment and the course of wages.

Significant reduction in unemployment

According to the Ministry of Labor, using ELSTAT data, unemployment has decreased by 4.4 percentage points since ND took over the government of the country. (From 17.2% when SYRIZA was defeated in the 2019 elections, to 12.8% in January 2022).

-In January 2022 we 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 .

-And all this despite the coronavirus crisis and the relevant negative forecasts for unemployment. These positive developments were not accidental. They became a reality due to the tax, fiscal, licensing, labor and insurance policies of the government that encouraged investment and created new jobs.

Wage increase

According to the Ministry of Labor, this positive picture is confirmed by the data of PS ERGANI which records paid employment in the private sector. In particular, in the four years 2018-2021, the following is recorded:

• 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%.

The reduction in insurance contributions adopted by the government, combined with tax cuts, increased the disposable income of employees.

Indicative:

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

• For employees 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.

The future policy of the government

In the near future, according to the Ministry of Labor, the government’s policy will further favor the employed and unemployed:

• With the new significant increase of the minimum wage from May 1.

• With the multiplication of the 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 state employment agency 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 of unemployment thanks to the development of the economy, as predicted by all international organizations.

• With the introduction (from June gradually) of the digital work card that will be a guarantee for the respect of the working hours and overtime of the employees.