The policies that led to the historic record of employment last Friday, the highest rate ever achieved by Greece, which reaches 72.2% in the general population and 63.6% among women, were outlined by the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Niki Kerameos, in an interview she gave to ERT television.
The minister underlined that in 2019 unemployment was at 18% and today it has fallen below 8%, while there are 563,000 citizens who were not working in 2019 and are employed today.
“We are focusing very much on vocational education and training, that is, we go and see what needs the labour market has across the country, in which professions there are shortages. Plumbers, electricians, chefs, pastry chefs, construction machinery operators. We have in the Public Employment Service more than 50 apprenticeship schools throughout Greece, where young people come and enroll, in order to do a two-year program where they will learn this specialty, in the morning they do practical training in businesses, in the afternoon they attend classes at the school. In two years they graduate certified and absorption into the labour market reaches 100%”, Ms. Kerameos pointed out.
“Career days throughout Greece. We held one the day before yesterday in Thessaloniki, we had more than 5,000 citizens who came. Rebrain Greece, actions in Europe and in America, in order to try to bring back all those brilliant minds who left mainly during the years of the crisis. 437 thousand of our Greek compatriots have returned through these actions, in which we go together with large businesses of the country, which are seeking staff”, the minister added.
Referring to the minimum and average wage, Ms. Kerameos stressed that the increase in the minimum wage since 2019 has exceeded 41%, from 650 euros to 920 euros today, adding: “By April 2027 we will exceed, as the prime minister said, 950 euros, with a target of 1,000 euros in January 2028. The average wage is shaped by supply and demand. There we had set a target for 2027 that we would exceed 1,500 euros. We exceeded it one year earlier. We are already at 1,530 euros one year earlier, that is, already since the spring of 2026. Therefore the new target set by the prime minister is 1,800 euros for 2030”.
Then, when asked, the minister commented on the issue of the unemployment benefit, on the occasion of the recent statements by the government spokesperson, Pavlos Marinakis, stating: “Mr. Marinakis did indeed express a personal position a few days ago. However, because Mr. Marinakis is also the government spokesperson, this led many people to wonder whether this could signal a possible change in the position of the competent Ministry of Labour and Social Security and in the government’s position. That is why, therefore, I announced that absolutely nothing changes as regards the position of the competent Ministry of Labour, nor in the government’s position”.
“I would also remind you that the unemployment benefit is an insurance right. There are two kinds of rights. The welfare ones, that is, the State comes and says, I am coming to support vulnerable fellow citizens of ours, let us say with the minimum guaranteed income. There the citizen has not paid something; the State comes to support them as it sees best. But there are also insurance rights, that is, the employee every month that they work pays unemployment contributions, as does the employer. Therefore they are insured in the event that the risk occurs.
What is the risk? To find oneself out of work. Therefore, the unemployment benefit is not welfare-based, the State does not come and say I give this much because I want to. It is insurance-based, contributory. That is, the employee has paid contributions and obviously is entitled to a return on those contributions”, she added.
“However, I want to remind you that a year ago we implemented a full reform of the unemployment benefit, with structural changes after 70 years. For example, the unemployment benefit throughout its duration, which as a rule is 12 months, starts out higher for the first months, which are the most difficult for someone who loses their job, and then gradually decreases in order to encourage you to find work. We offer you three jobs. You refuse the first. You refuse the second. If you refuse the third, then obviously you can no longer be on the unemployment registers of the Public Employment Service and, in addition, the work allowance is being implemented and applied in our country”, Ms. Kerameos pointed out.
“There is a work allowance for those who find a job during the unemployment period, where it is converted into a work allowance and they receive 50%. Therefore all these are being implemented. In any case, I want to be clear, the position of the ministry, nor that of the government, is not changing in any way”, the minister concluded.
Regarding the Digital Work Card, Ms. Kerameos stressed that it is a characteristic example of a policy that has results and creates new fiscal space, which is used to improve citizens’ lives and to support specific population groups.
“I will tell you with an example, two months ago I announced that we are abolishing the blatant injustice of the cuts to widow’s pensions under the Tsipras-Katrougalos law. A blatant injustice, which had been in force for ten years. How did we manage to resolve this issue? First, it had complex legal aspects, which we resolved, and second, we needed fiscal space. Where did we find it? In the Digital Work Card”, the minister said.
At the same time, she stressed that the Digital Work Card last year recorded 2.7 million more overtime hours compared with the previous year, a fact that led to a significant strengthening of the social insurance funds. These revenues were returned to society through, among other things, the abolition of the cut to widow’s pensions.
Ms. Kerameos recalled the extension of the measure in two phases, beginning on 12 October, in order to protect a total of 500,000 additional workers, who are employed in private health activities, telecommunications, hair salons, beauty centers, dry cleaners and cleaning services.
The second phase of the extension will take place in November and will concern, among other things, consulting companies, workers in advertising, repairs, logistics, wastewater management and gambling.
As the minister pointed out, the Digital Work Card has three main benefits:
It leads to a significant increase in workers’ earnings, as the actual time they work is recorded and it is ensured that they are paid for it.
It leads to the streamlining of competition.
It contributes to strengthening the social insurance funds and saving fiscal space that allows a dividend to be returned to society, as happened with the permanent 400-euro allowance for pensioners.
Specifically regarding the 400-euro allowance, Ms. Kerameos noted that it started at 250 euros for fewer beneficiaries and has now increased to 400 euros for 2.2 million pensioners.
The minister stressed that this increase was made possible through measures such as the Digital Work Card, while the same also happened with the abolition of the personal difference.
“Also, in this way we abolished the personal difference, which was leading many of our fellow citizen pensioners not to receive increases. It was abolished by 50% from January '26 and the remaining 50%, therefore abolition by 100%, from 1 January 2027. From now on everyone will see increases, even those who had a personal difference. All these things, therefore, are being achieved and done by the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, because we are establishing and implementing policies which secure and create new fiscal space”, she underlined.
Finally, the minister referred to yet another project of the government with a strong social character, which had been stagnant for 30 years: the delivery of 80 workers’ homes in Grevena to 300 beneficiaries.
“This project had been announced in 2003. I cannot describe to you the emotion of giving these people, who are entitled to it, who meet the conditions, a home. A gentleman came and told me at the moment I was giving him the key, a man who has been on construction sites all his life: ‘So no more staying as guests in other people’s houses’”, Ms. Kerameos concluded.