Greece drafts a plan to direct asylum recipients to the labor market. Photo of migrants arriving on Lesvos. Credit: Cgia Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
Greece is drafting a plan to direct asylum recipients to the labor market due to worker shortages in the agriculture, construction, and tourism sectors, according to Greek newspapers citing government sources.
While the deterrence policy on immigration has intensified, problems in Greece’s labor market continue to arise.
Recently, the Minister of Immigration Policy Thanos Plevris presented a plan to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis regarding the direct absorption of refugees who have been granted asylum into the labor market.
This is part of a broader draft law on immigration, which will be presented to the cabinet on Tuesday. The draft law includes an article that concerns migrants who have received a refugee status and will be placed in centers where they will be taught Greek and will learn basic skills.
The regulation provides for direct integration of refugees into the production process, securing a significant number of laborers offering the country a significant number of laborers in three crucial sectors, agriculture, tourism, and construction.
Separate centers
The draft plan initially provides for the separation of detention centers into two different levels: one will be set for migrants who are not going to receive asylum and come mainly from countries such as Egypt and Pakistan. The second center will be for migrants who fit the refugee profile and are very likely to be granted asylum after the necessary screening process. These are migrants mainly from Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea.
By establishing two-speed detention centers, the government essentially wants to implement a two-fold plan: On the one hand, a strict migration policy, and on the other hand the full utilization of those who will remain in Greece.
The process is estimated to produce approximately 20,000 workers annually, that is, those who will be granted asylum. Over a five-year period, that is, 100,000 workers will be added to Greece’s labor market.
Given that some of the refugees will not want to work but will leave, it is estimated that at least 60,000 workers will be available to work, which is a crucial number, as the Ministry of Labor and Social Security has calculated that the country needs 200,000 workers in the next five years.
The ministry has done research on the profile of migrants from different countries. For example, in Sudan, a country from which refugees have filed for asylum in Greece, workers show great discipline and good behavior. Sudan has a large production of cotton, corn, and wheat, as in Thessaly. Therefore, the Sudanese are a category of asylum recipients that the country needs to stay.
Learning programs
In regards to the labor market in Greece, research shows that 15 percent of those expected to receive asylum are women, who can go directly to the tourism sector, to fill a great need of cleaning and catering personnel.
The draft plan also provides for programs within the structure to learn the job in which they are intended to be absorbed, while basic Greek lessons will also be taught so that the laborers can communicate.
At the same time, benefits for migrants and asylum seekers will be drastically cut, so to deter more people entering Greece illegally. Those who receive asylum will know that they will enter the labor market. In fact, the integration of refugees into the production process is considered essential in order to maintain Greece’s 2 percent growth.
For this purpose, in the immediate future, centers that exist in areas in need of labor, such as Thessaly, Boeotia and Northern Greece, will be converted on a pilot basis into second-speed centers that will mainly welcome refugees who are expected to be granted asylum. To this end, Labor Minister Thanos Plevris has suggested that there should be a complete removal of all migrant hospitality structures from Athens.