Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-07-Speech-2-508"
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"en.20100907.32.2-508"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members, the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Greek authorities with the Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund provides that the Greek Government is to adopt legislation for minimum entry-level wages for groups at risk, such as young people and the long-term unemployed. The goal is to promote job creation for groups who face a higher risk of unemployment and, therefore, of social exclusion.
Young people are commonly paid sub-minimum wages in other Member States, such as Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Portugal and the United Kingdom. While the main argument for introducing a minimum wage is to minimise in-work poverty, high minimum wages may increase labour costs, and that may constitute a barrier to young people’s entry into the labour market and thus contribute to higher unemployment.
The very high rate of unemployment among young people in Greece is evidence of the difficulty they face in getting into the labour market. The national figure for unemployment among those aged 15 to 29 for April this year was 30.8%, compared to an average of 19.8% across the European Union. That figure is expected to rise further this year and next.
Long-term unemployment figures are also higher in Greece, which highlights how hard it is for the long-term unemployed to get back into the labour market. Some measures in the Memorandum of Understanding provide an emergency response to a critical situation. They involve the setting of minimum wages in nominal terms for a period of three years and are targeted at those facing difficulty in entering the labour market, such as the young and the long-term unemployed.
Quality of jobs and decent employment conditions remain a top priority for the Union, as is shown by the Integrated Guidelines – which were discussed this afternoon – which provide the framework for the Europe 2020 strategy.
The Commission constantly advocates a set of measures to address labour market segmentation, to ensure the unemployed and other vulnerable groups have adequate support and to foster sustainable employment and social cohesion.
These measures are also tangibly supported by EU Funds and the European Social Fund, in particular. In Greece, the European Social Fund finances a number of measures to boost access to the labour market, with priority for young people, women, the long-term unemployed and other vulnerable groups. It does this through a range of measures, such as personalised services for the unemployed, work experience programmes for new entrants to the labour market, the promotion of employability or reskilling, support to professional mobility and so on.
The Memorandum of Understanding also sets targets for Greece to increase its absorption of Structural and Cohesion Fund resources channelled into high investment and growth projects."@en1
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