"The country is steadily approaching our strategic goal. It is none other than the exit from the memorandum and the guardianship in August 2018", stressed the Minister of Labor, Social Security and Social Solidarity, Efi Achtsioglou, in her speech at the Regional Conference on Productive Reconstruction, in Heraklion, Crete. Αναφέρθηκε σε 3 νέα προγράμματα επιχορήγησης από το Υπουργείο Εργασίας που αναμένονται.

He noted that: "The government's development strategy focuses on changing the production model to make it sustainable and socially just. We are talking about growth that is sustainable, that is, sustainable over time, and therefore based on solid foundations. Where the country has comparative advantages and a development that is socially just, where the wealth produced will be distributed to the whole of society and primarily to those who produce it, namely the workers, and will not be concentrated in the hands of a few, widening social inequalities as happened in the past".

For the Ministry of Labour, he added, "the above principles are specified in three axes:
(a) active intervention to boost employment and reduce unemployment;
(b) intervention in industrial relations, in order to create quality jobs and to set the conditions for work with dignity;
c) intervention for the creation of structures and mechanisms of social protection and foundation of the social state, so that the development that takes place is socially rewarding".

From the beginning of the year until September, he noted, "73,544 beneficiaries have joined the targeted programs to combat unemployment, while by the end of 2017 another 46,000 are expected to join. In total, that is, by the end of the year, the programs will have covered 120,000 unemployed people."

He also stressed that with the Ν.4488/2017 "we have reformed the framework for the effective protection of workers from undeclared, undeclared and unpaid work. A grid of regulations is now in place to shield workers from abusive practices. It gives a head start to companies and employers who are consistent and respectful of labour relations.

The Minister of Labour referred to three new grant programs from the Ministry of Labour. Work programmes that will be implemented in the near future and concern:

1. Υπουργείο Εργασίας - Πρόγραμμα επιχορήγησης εργοδοτικών εισφορών για μετατροπή εργαζόμενων με μπλοκάκι σε μισθωτούς:

The incentive is given for the first time to turn falsely declared self-employment into what it really is, namely paid employment. The program has an overall budget 156 million euros, and 40 000 workers will benefit from this.

2.Program for stranded workers:

It concerns the cases of workers who have been unpaid for a long time, are in retention of work or are employed in declining sectors. The budget programme 100 million euros It includes, on the one hand, the financial support of employees and, on the other hand, their training with new knowledge and skills. The aim is to enable them to change jobs.

3. Grant program by the Ministry of Employment of the first recruitment of an employee by youth enterprises, up to 34 years old:

The program will give the opportunity to every young person who wants to start a business alone or together with others. To every new self-employed person who works alone and wants to expand his economic activity. They will be able to hire the first employee of the enterprise. This programme will contribute both to the strengthening of youth entrepreneurship and to the promotion of paid employment. It will provide for the subsidy for twelve (12) months of a portion of the wage and non-wage costs of the new hire for full-time employment, with additional incentives if the hire involves young people up to 29 years of age".

With regard to intervention to strengthen social protection and the structures of the social state, Achtsioglou underlined that today "more than 610,000 of our fellow citizens throughout the country receive the Social Solidarity Income. In the Region of Crete, 24,761 beneficiaries receive it". At the same time, he added, "a nationwide network for social protection is being established through community centers, while a total of 11 Community Centers operate in Crete today." Concluding, he stressed that an important intervention "to strengthen the structures of social protection will be the creation, in 2018, of 30 new nurseries in 12 municipalities of Crete, which will open 750 new places for children".

Αναμένονται το αμέσως επόμενο διάστημα ανακοινώσεις για τα 3 νέα προγράμματα επιχορήγησης από το Υπουργείο Εργασίας.