By Christina Kopsini

Despite the drastic cuts in salaries and wages by at least 22 percent and the increase in all forms of flexible work, the number of uninsured workers is growing.

The report by the Labor Inspection Squad for the year’s first four months showed that out of a sample 20,772 employees in various companies inspected, the number of those without social security came to 7,549, or more than 36 percent.

Statistical analysis showed that 47.2 percent of foreign workers were uninsured, as were 32 percent of Greeks, while the fines imposed for undeclared labor came to 3.93 million euros in that period. The leaders in undeclared labor were restaurants and catering businesses, with 65 percent. Retail commerce was a distant second, on 12 percent.

Full-time employment contracts went down to 49.9 percent of all new contracts, down from 58.9 percent in 2011 and from 79 percent in 2009, indicating a dramatic shift in favor of flexible labor.