ECONOMY

Labor balance shifted to sackings

More people lost their jobs than got new ones in September, while six in 10 hirings concerned part-time or rotational employment, according to data published on Monday by the Labor Ministry from its Ergani database.

September saw 170,001 dismissals and 166,041 hirings, meaning a deficit of 3,960 jobs, while just 70,152 of the hirings concerned full-time employment. Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis said that this decline in jobs was inevitable given the end of the tourism season.

Last year there had been a net increase in jobs by 63,122 in September, which Vroutsis attributed to “the imposition of high fines” aimed at curbing undeclared labor and employers’ increased compliance with the law.

In the first nine months of 2014 the balance is markedly positive: Hirings posted growth of 47.8 percent year-on-year to reach 1,186,926, while departures came to 1,000,005, of which 439,443 were voluntary exits. The rest concerned expiring fixed-term or open-term contracts.

Last month 3,060 full-time contracts were switched to a part-time or rotational basis.

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