“For the first time after two decades, unemployment in Greece falls below 10%”, said the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security, Vassilis Spanakisspeaking to radio station SKAI 100.3.

Among other things, Mr. Spanakis noted: “ELSTAT announced that unemployment fell to 9.6%. This practically means that since the day Kyriakos Mitsotakis assumed the government of the country, unemployment has fallen to over 7.3%. It is something very important, because if you look at the budget forecasts for 2024, which are at 10.6%, you will see that we are at better levels than what we expected. It means that the labor market is evolving and we have positive news and we have to see it as an outcome of overall economic policy.”

Also, the Deputy Minister of Labor underlined that there is currently room for improvement. That is why our policy tries to match the needs of the labor market with education and, from DYPA’s side, we try to fill gaps in the labor market with apprenticeships.”

Regarding the salaries of the employees, Mr. Spanakis emphasized that the two main government goals are to reach the average salary at the end of the four-year period at 1,500 euros, with a simultaneous increase in the minimum wage to just under 1,000 euros, and the second goal is to reduce unemployment to 8% at the end of four years. As he said, compared to 2019, the average salary has increased by more than 14%.