Greek Labor Minister rules out reduction to minimum wage
A day ahead of a European summit on youth unemployment in Berlin, Greek Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis has ruled out the prospect of mass layoffs and of a further drop in the country’s minimum wage.
“A minimum wage reduction is out of the question,” Vroutsis said on Tuesday following a meeting with representatives of the country’s foreign lenders, or troika, in Athens.
Vroutsis was scheduled to travel along with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to Berlin later on Tuesday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has invited European leaders for a youth unemployment conference in the German capital.
Youth unemployment in Greece, now its sixth year of recession, has skyrocketed over 60 percent, more than twice the EU average.
