“The challenge today is to integrate more people into the labor market, whether they are women or our fellow citizens of a younger age,” said the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Domna Michailidou, speaking at the Fortune Greece event, “Most Powerful Women Summit 2024” .
The Minister of Labor and Social Security stressed: “We have a lot to gain from the inclusion of women and our younger fellow citizens in the labor market, just as we gain from our older fellow citizens”, citing as an example working pensioners, the number of whom from 26,000, which was the previous year, within a month since the 30% withholding tax on their pension was abolished, it has reached 72,000.
Mrs. Michailidou made a special reference to the training programs. As he said, “150,000 of our fellow citizens have already been trained in green and highly specialized skills and we are continuing, but what is needed is that the training is also done within the workplace and mainly within industry, with people and the equipment of the business, so that it is much more attractive for the employer to hire a worker with specific skills”.
“There are no big changes or a magic wand. What we are implementing is a sum of marginal changes, reforms, which we are prioritizing,” noted the Minister of Labor and Social Security.
As he underlined, one of these changes is that self-employed people now also receive maternity benefit. “Indeed, this measure, combined with the birth allowance, but also the active employment programs, which focus on women, have led the wage gap in Greece to be lower than in other European countries”, commented Minister of Labor and Social Security, who, however, did not fail to mention that the participation of women in the labor market is lower.
SOURCE: APE-ME
