Further reduction in non -wage costs in favor of employees and businesses was announced on Tuesday, February 11, speaking on SKAI radio, Labor and Social Security Minister Niki Kerameos.

As Ms. Kerameos explained, the promoted initiative is to reduce overtime contributions, overtime, night and public holidays, reminding that it is a steady pursuit of government and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis “trying to reduce the cost”.

“You know that a great effort has been made, insurance contributions have already been reduced by 5.5 percentage points under Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Is the largest reduction in contributions made in recent years in Europe“

For workers in the Municipality of Thira The minister announced measures to protect them. “Santorini, at the moment we are talking, has been declared a state of emergency by civil protection. We look at measures that are very immediate to support workers in the Municipality of Thira, following measures that we have implemented in the past, that is, support in relation to contract suspensions and compensation to these employees. In fact, workers cannot work. So the state has to take care of. The state must take a while“,”must support these workers ».

For unemployment Ms Kerameos stressed that it was reduced to 9.4% from about 18% in 2019 when the New Democracy government took over. “Obviously it is something that is hopeful in the sense that policies attribute. Because you know unemployment does not fall on its own. That is, I want to say there are specific policies that have been developed all these 5 years in order to have a continuous reduction of unemployment and constant stimulation of employment“

Referring to the “Career Days” held last weekend in Volos, the Minister said that “Fifty -five businesses have come, and there are also citizens who are looking for work. So we make the coupling between the two. We bring them two close. More than 2000 people came to Volos. Over 8,500 citizens have found a job through ‘career days” Ms. Kerameos also mentioned the next event that will take place in Elefsina on Saturday, but also to the one that will take place next week in Thessaloniki.

For her findings ERGANI’s annual report Regarding employment, the minister said: “For the first time in too much, too long 3 in 4 Greeks are full -time. It is very important. It is a signal of a much healthier labor market. We obviously want full employment in general. There are, of course, needs for partial, alas, but full employment means people standing on their feet, who can be autonomous. We want it, we strive for full employment. “

To increase wages he stressed that:

“We have a dual policy. The first is the increase in wages for employees, which is why the minimum wage increases, you see that the average wage increases very significantly. We saw that the average employee won almost 100 euros, from last year, an increase of 7.2%. At the same time, however, with the increase in salaries we are also making a great deal of effort to reduce non -wage costs, that is, how much does work ultimately cost, and this has led to over half a million new jobs over the last five years. Only since last year, we have 93,000 new jobs. For the first time, 53% of Greek workers earn over 1,000 euros. It wasn’t like that before.“

About the digital work card said:

“The card has been applied to several branches. I will tell you: Banks, big supermarkets, security companies, all over industry, all the retail. Pilot in tourism and focus and universal in these categories from March 1st. We ran to see what it had in relation to the overtime declared. How many more overtime do you say to be declared? 815,000 above overtime. These overtime were somewhere before. I should admit that one place is about the growth of the Greek economy. But it is not 815,000 more overtime. So here’s the importance of the card that comes to protect the employee, but not just the worker and the healthy business.“