PASOK MP Michalis Katrinis highlighted the vast gap between the government’s portrayal of the labor market and the reality experienced by workers on a daily basis, during the debate on the Ministry of Labor’s bill in the plenary session of Parliament.
He pointed out that, according to data from the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) and the OECD, Greece continues to have some of the lowest employment rates in the European Union, high long-term unemployment, significant skills mismatches, and low participation in lifelong learning.
“You talk about the number of jobs. We talk about the quality of those jobs,” he noted, pointing out that only 53% of new contracts are full-time, while the more than 3.3 million job separations recorded by the ERGANI system over the course of a year paint a picture of a market marked by uncertainty rather than stability.
Referring to citizens’ income, he emphasized that the government’s celebrations over increases in wages and pensions are contradicted by the actual data. He cited the INE-GSEE report, according to which real wage increases for the 2019–2025 period are marginal, while the country remains at the bottom of the European Union in terms of purchasing power.
At the same time, he highlighted the difficult situation facing retirees, recalling PASOK’s proposal to reinstate the EKAS allowance for 350,000 low-income retirees, as well as the government’s responsibility for the EFKA’s fiscal trajectory.
He emphasized that the coverage of workers under collective bargaining agreements falls far short of the European target of 80%, while hundreds of thousands of workers in critical sectors remain outside the scope of collective protection.
Responding to the government’s attacks on PASOK’s proposal regarding the pilot implementation of the four-day workweek, he emphasized that reality itself refutes those who characterize it as unworkable, as large companies are already moving forward with similar pilot programs.
Referring to the concept of workplace justice, he stressed that this is not limited to closing the gender pay gap, but also concerns the long-term unemployed, women who struggle to remain in the labor market due to a lack of childcare facilities, the unemployed aged 55 to 74 who are left behind after the expiration of the Public Employment Service (PES) programs, as well as the weakening of the PES itself due to the departure of experienced employment counselors.
Michalis Katrinis concluded by saying that the country needs a different strategy—one that will transform the production model and invest in productivity, innovation, skills, quality jobs, and collective bargaining.
“Greece does not need a labor market that produces better statistics, but a labor market that produces better lives,” she emphasized.