Cyprus employers say free shop hours will boost economy, cut jobless

The island’s two main business associations, the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEVE) and the Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEV) have submitted proposals calling for the abolition of shop hour regulations that would revive confidence in the market and help reduce unemployment.
In a joint announcement, KEVE and OEV said allowing shops to stay open on Wednesday afternoons and all day Sunday, would be a pilot programme for two years and that it could be introduced immediately without any cost to the government.
“This is a measure already implemented in many European countries, as well as Russia and the U.S., while Italy’s technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti has also proposed to free up all shop hours in order to give a boost to the retail economy.”
KEVE and OEV say that the new measure will create new jobs to operate additional shifts to accommodate 30 new shopping hours a week, but this should not be done to the detriment of workers’ rights.
They argue that increased shopping hours will lead to a bigger turnover for all enterprises – small, medium-sized and large – and more money for the state through additional VAT earnings, as has been proven in the case of higher turnover in tourist-designated areas of coastal towns where weekend shopping has seen steady rise in recent years.
A further increase in tourist arrivals, estimated at some 400,000 this year, should earn the state about 400 mln euros in additional spending from March to November and shops need to be able to service this market as well. Additional incentives could also be given to cruise companies to make more frequent stops in Cyprus ports as well, KEVE and OEV added.