The Framework of Principles and Directions for the Utilisation of Human Resources seeks to establish a comprehensive strategy for human resources for the next five years. More specifically, it seeks to formulate the basic priorities set at national level which concern human resources and which also fall within the ambit of the structural funds and particularly the European Social Fund. The framework of principles covers all matters with regard to vocational training and education and the promotion of employment with particular emphasis on the development of training structures which constitute the main source of development of every activity in this field.
The essential element of the employment strategy followed in Greece is the endeavour to use a package of measures to redesign labour market policy as active employment policy. This strategy requires a comprehensive and unified concept - with links to individual areas of macro-economic and structural policy - in the fields of prevention and reduction of unemployment. The structural aspect of these policy areas, especially, must be based on investment in human resources (education and vocational training) and on employment promotion (labour market entry of young people, prevention of long-term unemployment, equal opportunities for women).
The most important ingredient of active employment policy is to increase and support investment in human resources. Greek policy in this area is based on implementing measures targeting the following fundamental goals:
- The second axis is prevention. Policies are gradually being reoriented from a rationale of protection to one of prevention. Structures and mechanisms are being developed to permit timely diagnosis of needs and developments in the labour market, and the emphasis is gradually shifting from passive policies providing unemployment benefit to active measures which promote employment on the basis of an individualised approach and equal access.
- The third axis concerns the provision of support and targets those groups with special weaknesses that impede their socio-economic integration. Attempts are being made to avert social exclusion, which removes entire sections of human resources from the production process; the aim is thus to pursue the fullest possible exploitation of the country's productive resources.
The NAP for 1999 was drawn up on the basis of all the experience gained in the course of the previous year's action plan. Thus, the policies, resources and instruments applied by all the agencies involved can be coordinated more effectively. The active participation of the social partners creates the necessary preconditions for a united and coordinated strategy for employment, and lays the foundations for the structure of the NAP in years to come.
The problems of young people, the long-term unemployed, women, elderly workers and other vulnerable groups will remain the focus of all policies at the macroeconomic and structural level.
The main targets of the National Action Plan for Employment are: a) to draw up a macroeconomic plan to stabilise the economy, b) to combat unemployment, c) to stimulate investment and modernise institutions and d) to draft active policies for employment.
The NAP is designed to assist those groups in the population who are particularly vulnerable to changing conditions in the labour market and to adopt appropriate measures and actions which will enhance flexibility in the labour market and facilitate the integration of the unemployed.
In the spirit of European policy and the European Employment Pact, through innovative approaches, rational planning and the active participation of all those involved in its design and implementation, the NAP intends to secure economic and social prosperity for all Greek citizens and employees.
3.1.1.2. New initiative to link training and employment
A pilot scheme to link vocational training and employment was approved in principle by the Third Observatory Committee of the enterprise scheme "Lifelong education and employment promotion". The Ministry of Labour and Social Security subsequently developed a comprehensive and integrated project to carry out the proposed activities, which was passed by the Fourth Observatory Committee of the enterprise scheme. The goal of this policy measure was to train 4,500 persons and to find employment for at least one third of these.
The main and immediate aim of the scheme is to help participants as far as possible into permanent employment through the provision of specialised theoretical and practical training in an actual vocation and with a view to an actual job. The scheme was designed solely for the unemployed.
The scheme is conceived in particular for:
a) Persons aged under 25: The aim is to develop their skills and thus contribute to the reduction of unemployment. The scheme is particularly important for those young people who have not completed school education and are thus at risk of long-term unemployment.
b) Persons aged over 25: The aim is to combat the primary factors contributing to long-term unemployment through specialisation and re-qualification.
c) Women: The aim is immediate and efficient integration of women into the labour market. To this end, the stipulations contained in Community regulations and schemes ensuring equal opportunities between men and women are implemented.
The effects expected from implementing initiatives to link training and employment are:
a) establishment of effective links between training and employment;
b) adaptation of training to actual and immediate labour market needs;
c) employment stability;
d) reduced unemployment;
e) participation of the social partners and individual authorities in the planning and implementation of the actual initiatives;
f) provision of incentives for the unemployed and enterprises.
The OAED is responsible for implementing the scheme, that is, for actually carrying it out and for its coordination.
The initiatives to link training and employment are financed by the ESF (75%) and the state (25% through the OAED).
Training programmes under this scheme undergo official supervision in three stages.
3.1.1.3. Legal basis
Decision of the National Council for Vocational Training and Employment (ESEKA).
§ 16 of Law 2224/94 provides for the creation of a legal entity under civil law entitled "National Centre for Vocational Orientation" (EKEP).
The aims of the EKEP are:
a) to offer advisory support to the OAED and the relevant Vocational Orientation Service (Institute of Pedagogy) of the Ministry of Education in planning and implementing a national policy in the field of vocational orientation;
b) to coordinate the activities of public and private organisations providing vocational orientation;
c) to establish a national information network for all those interested in training and further training and in exchanges with other EU countries;
d) to assess the qualifications of the specialised experts who will be implementing vocational orientation throughout the country.
In accordance with Law 2190/94, a Supreme Council for the Selection of Civil Service Personnel (ASEP) has been constituted, which is to operate as an autonomous institution. The exclusive task of the ASEP is to implement the legislation and regulations pertaining to the selection of staff recruited by the civil service, local authority organs and public-law legal entities. The ASEP is managed by an eleven-member board.
§ 6 of the National Framework Collective Agreement provides for the creation of a Greek Institute for Health and Safety at Work. In June 1992 a civil-law association with charitable status and bearing the same title (EL.IN.Y.A.E.) was founded. The Institute is run by a nine-member board composed of representatives of the most important employer and employee organisations in the country: the Confederation of Greek Industry, the Confederation of Greek Trade Associations, the Greek Trade Union Confederation and the General Greek Confederation of Craft Producers.
The aims of the EL.IN.Y.A.E. are:
a) to identify, describe, study and analyse harmful influences or conditions and their impact on the health and safety of employees,
b) to draw up regulations, decrees and appropriate legislation,
c) to keep up to date with international developments and to evaluate international experiences,
d) to disseminate information and provide training for both sides regarding health and safety issues,
e) to examine the possible effects of the use of new technologies on workers' health and to conduct research into preventive measures in the workplace.
Also of note is the establishment of an institution with charitable status entitled "Labour Institute of the Greek Trade Union Confederation", the aim of which is to help provide a scientific basis for the active policies of the Greek trade union movement.
The Institute is run by a board appointed by the GSEE. The Institute's activities cover:
a) analyses and studies,
b) further training within the trade unions,
c) vocational training,
d) documentation,
e) publications.
3.1.1.4. Contents
The basic aim of national policy for the development of human resources will be the improvement of the quality of intervention in the field of vocational training and the promotion of employment. More specifically, the effort will be concentrated on the three basic aims below:
1. The strengthening of policy application institutions. This will be achieved by the development of central and regional instruments for the observation of the trends in the labour market and planning, and of the planning and evaluation of programmes for vocational training and employment. In specific fields of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security concerning the promotion of vocational training and employment, priority will be given to the further development of policy planning mechanisms, supported by a democratic decentralised system of management. The main elements of the systems are:
a) The National Council of Vocational Training and Employment, as well as the Regional (PEEKA) and Prefectural (NEEKA) Committees which are provided for by law.
b) At the same time and in cooperation with the above planning structure, the Ministry of Education under the provision of Act 2000/14-2-92 undertakes the responsibility for closing the gaps that exist between the old and the new vocational training systems. The Vocational Education and Training Organisation will play a leading role in this endeavour.
c) The Institute of Labour and Vocational Training has as its target:
- the promotion of social dialogue.
d) The community support framework, which is responsible for implementing and providing administrative support for schemes that have already been planned.
The above are components of an integrated system in the framework of which vocational training policy design and implementation will take place.
2. The improvement of education and training structures which focus on the following points:
a) Reinforcement of the mechanisms which monitor labour market developments and the implementation of programmes by the bodies responsible at sectoral and regional levels.
b) The modernisation of the curricula and the advancement of the quality of the teachers who are responsible for the renewal of the education and training systems.
c) The realisation of the needs for building, construction and training equipment.
3. The strengthening of administrative mechanisms of control and evaluation of the vocational training programmes and the promotion of employment. Taking into consideration the rapid increase in ESF funding, as well as the necessity for an increase in the effectiveness of implemented programmes and a decrease of irregularities, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security will continue the effort to develop an integrated national control system, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and other bodies responsible for implementing programmes.
This system will consist of three ascending levels of control.
3.1.1.5. Directions
The mechanism of policy design and application for vocational training presented above will focus mainly on an effort to develop a flexible system of vocational training. This system will have three main components: initial training, continuous training and retraining.
a) Initial vocational education and training, i.e. apprenticeship and technical/vocational training, is geared towards young people who have finished secondary compulsory education or Lykeia. Pupils who successfully complete these courses receive a formal and recognised certificate. Within this framework the development of a formal post-Lykeia vocational training course will be promoted by priority order. The structure of curricula and syllabi of formal post-Lykeia vocational training contains a wide range of skills and knowledge for the trainees to enable them to adapt to changes dictated by technological developments during their professional career.
b) Continuous training must be strengthened, particularly its on-the-job-training component or, where it is required (mainly in the case of high skills specialisation), through collaboration between training or educational institutions and enterprises.
c) Training programmes for combating youth and long-term unemployment. Within this framework, the development of opportunities for vocational training and its connection to the real needs of the labour market for young people and the re-entry of the unemployed in the labour market will be pursued through combined vocational training and employment programmes which combine training in a specific skill with a sixteen-month placement subsidy or self-employment.
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