A study carried out by the Research Centre for Gender Equality on the labour market status of immigrant women in Greece indicates that a large number of these women are employed without social insurance in low-paid, unskilled jobs. The study reveals that their length of residence in the country has no significant effect on the type of job they perform. Most immigrant women currently work as cleaners, domestic workers or babysitters.
In June 2007, the Research Centre for Gender Equality (Κέντρο Ερευνών για θέματα Ισότητας, KETHI) published a survey on the status of female immigrants in the Greek labour market. The survey examines issues such as the types of jobs performed by immigrant women, how much they are paid and whether they are socially insured.
The population census conducted by the National Statistical Service of Greece (Εθνική Στατιστική Υπηρεσία Ελλάδας, ESYE) in 2001 counted a total of 762,191 immigrants, 45% of whom were women. The vast majority of immigrant women came from Albania (52.1%), followed by Bulgaria (6.1%), Georgia (3.8%), Russia (3.2%), Ukraine (3%), Romania (2.7%), Poland (2%) and the Philippines (1.4%).
Most of the female immigrants are young. In fact, their age structure differs from that of Greek women: 62.4% of female immigrants are aged 15–44 years, whereas the respective figure for Greek women is 41%. Greek women account for 19.9% of those aged 65 years or more, whereas immigrant women comprise only 4.1% of this age group.
The main reason cited by immigrant women for coming to live in Greece was to seek a job (48.6%). Furthermore, a substantial proportion of women (15.4%) came to the country in order to be reunited with their families, and 7.8% came for reasons of repatriation.
The vast majority (86.8%) of working immigrant women are employees, 6.6% are self-employed without staff, 4.2% are assisting unpaid members of family businesses and 2.6% are employers.
The survey participants included immigrant women living throughout the country who are aged 16–77 years. Overall, the sample size amounted to 612 women. The sample is representative of the population of female immigrants, based on data from the 2001 census by ESYE. In order to gather the data, structured interviews were used to complete a questionnaire. The survey was carried out between 9 December 2005 and 20 December 2005, and the results were published in June 2007.
Altogether, 68.8% of the women in the sample were working during the time that the survey was conducted, while 15.2% were unemployed, 11.2% did not want or were unable to work, and 3.6% were in employment but wanted to change jobs.
According to the survey, the majority of immigrant women work as cleaners, domestic workers or babysitters, regardless of how long they have lived in Greece (Table 1). Nevertheless, a greater proportion of immigrant women who have been in the country for only a short period of between one and five years are employed as service providers and blue-collar workers, compared with those who have been in the country for a longer period. Conversely, a greater share of immigrant women who have lived in the country for more than five years work as office staff, sole traders or employers, and scientific personnel, compared with those who have been resident in Greece for a shorter period.
| Occupations of immigrant women | Years of residence in Greece | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–5 years | 6–10 years | Over 10 years | ||
| Scientific occupations | - | 3.8 | 11.1 | 5.5 |
| Sole traders, employers | 1.3 | 2.4 | 6.3 | 3.4 |
| Office staff | 2.5 | 5.2 | 6.3 | 5.1 |
| Cleaners, domestic workers, babysitters | 52.5 | 60.2 | 55.6 | 57.2 |
| Blue-collar workers | 18.8 | 8.1 | 4.9 | 9.0 |
| Service providers | 25.0 | 20.4 | 16.0 | 19.8 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
Notes: At the time of the survey, 177 of the immigrant women were unemployed, did not want or were unable to work, or did not state which occupation they perform; thus, they have not been included in this analysis. Some of the data in the tables may add up to slightly more or less than 100% due to rounding of figures.
Source: ΚΕΤΗΙ, 2007 (survey conducted in December 2005)
Out of a total of 406 women, almost half (47.3%) received a monthly income of less than €700, 27.8% received salaries of €701–€1,000 a month, and 24.9% received salaries of over €1,000 a month.
Data on the pay levels of employed women, including both Greek and foreign women, from ESYE for the second quarter of 2005 show the discrepancies between women’s wages on the basis of their nationality (Table 2).
| Women’s income | Nationality | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Greek | Foreign | Total | |
| <€250 | 1.2 | 4.0 | 1.4 |
| €251–€500 | 8.0 | 19.9 | 8.9 |
| €501–€750 | 26.2 | 44.3 | 27.7 |
| €751–€1,000 | 23.7 | 11.2 | 22.7 |
| €1,001–€1,250 | 16.5 | 1.9 | 15.3 |
| €1,251–€1,500 | 6.3 | 0.6 | 5.8 |
| €1,501–€1,750 | 3.4 | 2.8 | 3.3 |
| €1,751–€2,000 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| >€2,000 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| No income | 13.8 | 14.9 | 13.9 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
Source: ESYE (2nd quarter 2005), processed by Kritikidis, G. of the Institute of Labour (INE) of the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE)
Income levels among immigrant women differ according to the type of occupation they perform (Table 3). Most female immigrants who perform scientific occupations, work as sole traders or employers, or work in an office have earnings of over €1,000 a month. By contrast, more than half of those who work as domestic workers, cleaners or babysitters and blue-collar workers earn less than €700 a month.
| Occupations of immigrant women | Amount of income from work | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Less than €700 | €701–€1,000 | €1,000 | ||
| Scientific occupations | 26.3 | 5.3 | 68.4 | 100.0 |
| Sole traders, employers | 18.2 | 18.2 | 63.6 | 100.0 |
| Office staff | 35.0 | - | 65.0 | 100.0 |
| Cleaners, domestic workers, babysitters | 54.7 | 30.8 | 14.5 | 100.0 |
| Blue-collar workers | 59.4 | 31.3 | 9.4 | 100.0 |
| Service providers | 32.9 | 32.9 | 34.2 | 100.0 |
| Total | 47.3 | 28.1 | 24.6 | 100.0 |
Note: At the time of the survey, 206 of the immigrant women were unemployed, did not want or were not able to work, or did not report their incomes from employment; thus, they have not been included in this analysis.
Source: KETHI 2007 (survey conducted in December 2005)
In Greece, the existing social insurance system is a ‘first-pillar’ mandatory public distributive system. Public pension benefits are financed by the employer, the employee and the state. Private pensions are not widely used in Greece and are voluntary in nature. ‘Second-pillar’ occupational pensions – private collective occupational pension schemes – are not particularly widespread, nor is there extensive use of the ‘third pillar’ of occupational pensions, namely private retirement savings accounts. Employees are insured by the Social Insurance Foundation-Unified Insurance Fund for Employees (Ίδρυμα Κοινωνικών Ασφαλίσεων - Ενιαίο Ταμείο Ασφάλισης Μισθωτών, IKA-ΕΤΑΜ).
Self-employed people pay their own social insurance contributions and the funds for self-employed workers are structured around occupational groups – for example, such funds include theHealth Workers’ Pension and Self-insurance Fund and the Engineers’ and Public Contractors’ Pension Fund. Earlier this year, the government announced a major reform of the private sector state pensions system (GR0805029I, GR0710039I).
The possibility of obtaining social insurance is a particularly serious problem for immigrant women. KETHI’s survey results reveal that 42.5% of all the women in the sample – regardless of whether they were employed or unemployed at the time of the survey – answered that they had no insurance at the time the survey took place. The remainder of the respondents are mainly insured by IKA-ΕΤΑΜ (49.1%) and about 8.5% of immigrant women have another type of insurance. Table 4 shows the situation regarding insurance coverage for immigrant women working in the occupational categories outlined earlier.
| Occupations of immigrant women | Insurance fund | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not insured/was but currently not insured | IKA-ETAM | Other type of insurance | ||
| Scientific occupations | 13.6 | 68.2 | 18.2 | 100.0 |
| Sole traders, employers | 13.3 | 26.7 | 60.0 | 100.0 |
| Office staff | 14.3 | 71.4 | 14.3 | 100.0 |
| Cleaners, domestic workers, babysitters | 50.0 | 48.0 | 2.0 | 100.0 |
| Blue-collar workers | 27.0 | 56.8 | 16.2 | 100.0 |
| Service providers | 21.1 | 64.7 | 14.1 | 100.0 |
| Total | 37.7 | 53.5 | 9.2 | 100.0 |
Source: KETHI, 2007 (survey conducted in December 2005)
When associating the occupation of female immigrants to their insurance coverage, it appears that women employed as cleaners, domestic workers or babysitters constitute the largest proportion of uninsured immigrant women.
A large number of immigrant women are employed in unskilled jobs, and their length of residence in the country does not appear to significantly affect the type of job they perform. Furthermore, a significant number of immigrant women in Greece are low-paid and/or have no social insurance coverage.
KETHI, Female immigration in Greece – the findings of KETHI’s nationwide survey, Athens, June 2007.
Sofia Lampousaki, Labour Institute of Greek General Confederation of Labour (INE/GSEE)