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The ink on President Anastasiades’ declaration for growth and jobs announced last Friday has hardly dried and it has already given rise to concerns that some of these proposals will not meet the required targets.
Perhaps, the plan’s weakness lies in its initial focus on only some areas: to support vulnerable groups, train unemployed youth and graduates, create (some) new jobs, enhance development and encourage green investments.
Within a month, he said, there will be a second package of measures that will address employment, sustainability and, hopefully, growth in the financial and services sectors, technology and research, while plans will also be underway to implement state reforms and institutional changes that will result in “less government”.
The problem with the first package is that with the current dire situation in state coffers, any subsidies to be paid for individual electricity bills, grants to install solar panels and financial aid to rehire part-timers, as well as to encourage some 6,000 jobs in the tourist sector, will drain all funds that will come in from the Troika. Many other unskilled workers will remain on the dole and will not be able to find suitable jobs, losing the opportunity to earn wages and resume contributions to the near-bankrupt Social Insurance Fund, so that some day they, too, will have a pension to look forward to.
What is needed is for some of the government services to show a level of flexibility when a small company seeks a tax rebate in order to hire out-of-work people. Some level of leeway in the interpretation of the measures would go a long way to ensuring that some people find jobs outside the strict confines of the above mentioned categories and some employers also secure the necessary funds to hire unemployed workers.
With the tourist season about to begin, this sector will immediately absorb the seasonal workers who have been waiting for hotels and restaurants to re-open in order to be called back by their previous bosses. Thus, the measures will primarily benefit the hoteliers and the trade unions, giving little regard to many more trying to find work in other areas.
In order to ensure that the regulations are generally adhered to, but also that some flexibility will be shown where necessary, perhaps some senior officials from the Ministry of Labour should be seconded to a “Labour Task Force” that will oversee the implementation of the plan, and also to approve or reject other cases that might be on the verge of acceptance.
After all, for some workers and some SMEs, finding the right financial aid will ensure their viability which is vital in the present times.
