The government announced this week that it is preparing a new program to contain unemployment, as the numbers of jobless continued to rise in July.
The program will run from this September until August 2012 at a cost 2.7 billion euros. The program intends to assist 600,000 people, those with and without jobs. Half of the program’s funding will go towards maintaining an existing 300,000 jobs, a quarter for the employment of a further 150,000 people. The remaining funding will enable the training of another 150,000 people.
“None of the unemployed to benefit will owe anything to any deputies. Certain fellow deputies, certain mayors and certain people from non-government organizations need to realize that they cannot toy with the anxiety of the jobless in order to serve their own,” said Labor Minister Giorgos Koutroumanis in Parliament.
The news came as the number of those registered at the Manpower Organization (OAED) reached 699,658 in July, climbing 1.82 per cent from June, despite the summer factor, which always generates seasonal jobs.
There were 12,485 new names on the unemployment register of the organization last month, with the greatest increase seen in Crete, rather surprisingly given the increased tourism on the island.
OAED data further show that the announcements of newly hired labour went down by 19.86 per cent in July compared to June, and by 12.07 per cent from July 2010. Long-term unemployed increased by 7,949 people, or 2.88 per cent in July, a concerning rise from the previous month.
Besides the social aspect of unemployment, Koutroumanis highlighted the shortage in contributions to social security funds. He said that the Social Security Foundation (IKA) and OAED have suffered losses of about 3.3 billion euros, owing to increased needs for unemployment benefits and a reduction in social security contributions.
Meanwhile, the number of full-time contracts turning into part-time ones (on the authority of the employer) increased by 5,521 per cent in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period in 2010. There was also an increase of 476.7 per cent in agreed contract transformations.
