Labour economics

The Turkish government plans to boost employment specifically for women by making the working conditions better and reducing the informal economy with the new reform package. 

Labor reforms targeted at reducing the informal economy and boosting employment, especially of women, were announced by Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu yesterday. 

Nearly a quarter of around 3 million unemployed people in Turkey are university graduates, according to official figures that reveal severity of situation Economic growth, which is estimated to have dropped to 2.5 percent in 2014, has also made unemployment climb.

The unemployment rate in Romania hit 5.29 percent at a national level at end-Dec., by 0.11 percent higher than in Nov. and by 0.36 percentage points lower than at end-Dec. 2013, says a release sent by the National Employment Agency to AGERPRES on Thursday.

Photo credit: (c) CONSTANTIN DUMA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The low minimum wage disincentivises people from working and they prefer to live on benefits, according to Ivaylo Kalfin, Bulgaria's Minister of Labor and Social Policy.

Greece's jobless rate fell to 25.8 percent in October from an upwardly revised 26 percent rate in September as the economy emerged from a six-year recession, Greek statistics agency ELSTAT said on Thursday.

October's reading was the lowest since August 2012 when unemployment stood at 25.5 percent. The record high was set in September 2013, when unemployment hit 28 percent.

The unemployment rate in Bulgaria has decreased over the past year, but remains above the average for the European Union (EU).

This becomes clear from the data on unemployment in November 2014, published by Eurostat on Wednesday.

The unemployment rate in Bulgaria has recorded a steady decrease from November 2013, when it stood at 12.9 %, reaching 11.1 % a year later.

A survey conducted by the Labour Ministry in Montenegro indicates that over 14 per cent of all those working in the country work completely in the black market - which means their employment is not registered in any form or taxed.

Unemployment fell to 25.5 percent in the third quarter of the year, against 26.6 percent in the second quarter of 2014 and 27.2 percent in the third quarter of 2013, according to seasonally unadjusted data published on Thursday by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).

The Bulgarian government approved the two-step increase of the minimum wage in 2015 at its meeting on Wednesday.

In the beginning of 2015 the minimum wage is set to rise to BGN 360, which will be followed by a further increase to BGN 380 on July 1 next year.

The increase of the minimum wage to BGN 380 is expected to be approved at the meeting of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday.

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