Part-time employment soars

GSEE report shows full-time work has declined by almost half a million jobs in the last five years

Full-time employmenthas shrunk by about half a million workers in the last five years, while part-time work has almost doubled to become the norm in terms of employment for many people, according to a report by the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE).

Part-time employment has soared by 90 percent since 2010, with women representing 57 percent of this increase. It appears to have replaced temporary work as the main alternative to full employment.

The report on the Greek economy has already been delivered to the prime minister and the other party leaders and will be officially presented at the Thessaloniki International Fair next month as is customary every year.

The findings of the survey are particularly significant given that the government and its creditors are starting talks on new interventions in the labor market. On the table will be collective negotiations, group layoffs and the law on unions, with the government seeking certain interventions that would improve the measures already taken, and the creditors demanding the start of talks on optimum practices which already apply in the rest of the European Union.

Still, the GSEE report showed that the deregulation of the labor market should not form part of the policy to contain unemployment. It highlights that the quality of jobs continues to decline and illegal and forced forms of employment are on the increase, resulting in a significant impact on workers’ incomes, human capital and economic productivity.

The report also revealed that there is a strong connection be-

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1.0941 tween insecure jobs and poverty, while the decline of per capita social expenditure has contributed to the further downgrading of both workers’ and pensioners’ living standards.

The union further stressed that there is no growth momentum foreseen for this or next year, as the estimates for the period are negative due to the country’s economy remaining entrenched in the crisis.