Flexible labor forms do the job

Increase in employment is based on part-time and shift work, as full-time contracts become a minority

The Labor Ministry’s September hirings data point to the complete domination of flexible forms of labor in Greece, leading to an increase in the rate of underemployment, which has almost trebled over the course of the crisis.

Experts warn that the increase in insecure jobs affects the course of salaries, with a serious macroeco- nomic impact on the national economy, as it operates as an underlying austerity mechanism.

A growing number of workers are near or below the poverty line, while it is clearly illustrated that the decline of unemployment figures is being achieved via the reduction of salaries and the replacement of fulltime jobs with underpaid part-time employment.

The ministry’s Ergani database of salaried work showed that flex- ible forms of labor accounted for 60.33 percent of hirings last month, as new full-time jobs reached just 39.67 percent. In total, in the year to end-September flexible labor concerned 53.5 percent of hirings, managing to exceed 50 percent for the first time this year.

September’s hirings outnumbered departures by 17,128, mainly thanks to the start of the academic year and because a significant share of employees in sectors related to tourism stayed on last month due to increased tourism this fall.

In the first nine months of the year the balance of hirings and departures was positive by 265,871 jobs, up by 20,266 from the same time last year.

In September there was an increase in both hirings and departures, with the former reaching 261,807 (from 230,580 last year) and the latter climbing to 244,679 (from 222,792 in September 2016).

Last month’s new part-time jobs 1.1707 came to 124,679 or 47.62 percent of all hirings, which along with the 33,282 shift labor contracts (12.71 percent) take the share of flexible forms to 60.33 percent. There were only 103,846 new full-time jobs offered in September.

Flexible labor apparently favors women, with the departures among men exceeding hirings by 3,713, while among women there was a positive balance of 20,841 jobs recorded last month.