National Plan to deal with unemployment

The National Committee on Employment is meeting on Tuesday with the aim of forging a national action plan against the rampant unemployment in Greece.

The Committee, in its first meeting in 3 1/2 years, has been convened by Labor, Social Security and Welfare Minister Yannis Vroutsis and will include representatives of the so-called 'productive' ministries, employers' organisations and trade unions, as well as other social agencies.

The Minister will brief the meetings on his ministry's actions currently underway, and will seek specific proposals for a re-planning of the existing actions for the purpose of optimizing their efficiency and effectiveness.

According to sources, there will be an in-depth review of the programmes for boosting employment among youth, the hardest hit age bracket with an unemployment rate nearing 60 percent, which the Minister has placed high priority on, as well as the issue of finding funds to support the approximately 400,000 Greek families that have no working members.

Vroutsis is in favour of the drafting of orientation programmes and the subsidization of jobs through funds that could be channeled from the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) to the European Social Fund.