The Greek social model: Towards a deregulated labour market and residual social protection

Austerity-Driven Labour Market Reforms in Southern Europe: Eroding the Security of Labour Market Insiders

“…For instance, our analysis does not cover changes made to the status of a special group of labour market insiders: public sector workers. In Greece, for example, employees in public enterprises saw the abolition of all clauses on tenure provided for by collective agreements and saw their labour contracts transformed into open-ended ones; while in public administration, labour reserve and mobility schemes were created in order to receive personnel made redundant, of whom a certain number have been dismissed (Karamessini, 2015).…”

“…In Greece, in 2010, the minimum threshold for collective dismissals was increased from 2-3 per cent to 10 per cent (Karamessini, 2015). In Spain, since 2012, collective dismissals are no longer dependent on authorisation from national, regional or local authorities.…”

“…15 In Greece (2012), unemployment insurance was extended to self-employed workers. However, due to stringent eligibility criteria, very few of the self-employed who found themselves out of business had access to benefi ts (Karamessini, 2015). 16 In Portugal (in 2012), the mandatory contributory period to be eligible for unemployment insurance benefi ts was reduced from 450 to 360 days (in the last 730 days).…”

“…2 In Greece (in 2013), private sector employees saw the notice period for individual dismissals reduced from a maximum of 24 to a maximum of 4 months and the level of severance pay cut from 2-24 months to 1-6 months (with prior notice) or 2-12 months (without prior notice). Severance pay for workers with more than 17 years of service was reduced from 24 to 12 months' wages (Karamessini 2015). In Spain, in 2010, the Socialist government decided to expand the use of the Contrato de Fomento del Empleo, which was originally restricted to young people up to age 30, to those up to age 44 (Law 35/2010 of 17 September).…”

“…Th ere is, of course, a growing base of countryspecifi c analysis of the reforms (see Baylos 2012; Bentolila and Jansen 2012;Martin Puela 2011;Valdés Dal-Ré 2011;Loy 2012;Raitano 2012;Papadimitriou 2012;Matsaganis 2013;ILO 2011;Karamessini 2012Karamessini 2015Koukiadaki and Kretsos 2012;Laskos and Tsakalotos 2013;ILO 2014;Ramalho 2013). However, there have been few attempts to look at these developments through a comparative lens, and they have important limitations.…”