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The economic crisis in Greece is continuing to put a stranglehold on commerce in the country. The Annual Greek Commerce Report shows a reduction in employment rates for the fifth consecutive year. Current employment rates are as low as in 1997. There also appears to have been a hardening of the pessimistic attitude among business owners. The report comes from the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce, ESEE, which combines all data on Greek commerce into one document.
The results of the 2013 Annual Greek Commerce Report are particularly disappointing. Downward trends that had started to appear in 2011 have become a disturbing reality in 2013. The report, compiled by the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce (ESEE), shows the Greek commerce sector is in the grip of a structural survival crisis.
Figures show a continuing reduction of employment rates in the commerce sector. The report also reveals that traders have become more pessimistic about the future prospects of their businesses. Together, these give an idea of the intensity and depth of the crisis situation in Greece.
Young people and women should be able to find employment in commerce. But even among these groups the current trend is for a reduction in employment rates that mirrors the general reduction of employment rates in all sectors.
Current employment rates have dropped to 1997 levels, and ESEE refers to an ‘unprecedented journey back in time that has dramatically changed the form of mercantile entrepreneurship in Greece’.
For the fifth consecutive year there was a fall in the employment rates in the commerce sector, as shown in Figure 1. The latest data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) Labour Force Survey show the commerce sector employed 656,156 people during the second quarter of 2013, 648,447 of them aged 15–65.
Figure 1: Employment in the commerce sector
Source: General Secretariat of ELSTAT, Labour Force Survey 2013, second quarter
There was a long period of strong and steady growth in employment rates in the commerce sector up to 2008, followed by a sharp drop. In 2013 employment in the commerce sector reached 1997 levels. Figures show 176,400 full time jobs have been lost, 21.2% of the number of jobs available in 2008.
The development of part-time work in the commerce sector has been irregular despite an upwards long-term trend. At the beginning of the period between 1991 and 2008, part-time employment rates dropped briefly and then began to increase, spiking in 2006 (Figure 2). The trend was downwards in 2007 and 2008, and then began to rise once more in 2009.
Figure 2: Part-time employment in the commerce sector, 1998 to 2013
Source: General Secretariat of ELSTAT, Labour Force Survey 2013, second quarter
In the second quarter of 2008, part-time workers made up 4.5% of the workforce. By 2013 the proportion had almost double to 8.2% of the total number of workers. Figures show a 16,000 increase in the number of part-time workers. During the same period, the total number of people employed in the commerce sector dropped by 176,400 (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Percentage of part-time workers in the commerce sector
Source: General Secretariat of ELSTAT, Labour Force Survey 2013, second quarter
Part-time employment is generally unpopular among workers. The study found around seven out of 10 part-time workers would prefer a full-time job, but could not find full-time employment. This preference is roughly the same for both genders – 69.5% among men and 69.8% among women. There are, of course, other reasons for being employed part-time. Women aged 35 to 39 said family commitments meant they needed to work part-time. Among older people, health issues and ‘other reasons’ – possibly the need to supplement their pension income – were given as a motivation for working part-time.
In the commerce sector, the use of agency workers is extremely limited. Fewer than 1,000 workers provided their services in this way during 2013. All of them were women.
However, there had been a significant development in different types of working time management. These were developed to suit the operational needs of the businesses.
Figures showed 37.5% of salaried workers in the commerce sector were ‘usually’ or ‘occasionally’ called on to work shifts. However, there was a significant gender difference. Only 21.9% of male salaried workers were expected to work shifts, but 68.7% of female salaried workers did shift work.
The total number of overtime hours was up 8.5% during 2013 compared with 2008. The largest increase was in the overtime worked by women (12.2%) – among male workers the increase was 6.3%.
It is estimated that the increase in overtime work in the commerce sector has resulted in the loss of 500 full-time jobs in the period between 2008 and 2013. This figure is small compared to the total number of salaried jobs lost during the same period, put at around 66,500, but it seems to indicate a trend, even on a small scale, for businesses to employ a smaller number of staff working longer hours.
The Labour Force Survey distinguishes between paid and unpaid overtime work.
According to ESEE, ‘relevant data show that in the labour market in general and in particular in the commerce sector, [there has been] a total deregulation’. In 2013 the overtime hours paid by the employers to comply with statutory requirements were halved compared to 2008. Yet between 2008 and 2013, the number of overtime hours worked increased by 76.4%.
Paid overtime hours were granted to a smaller number of workers during 2013. While the total number of people who worked overtime dropped by 5.7%, but the proportion paid for overtime work dropped by more than 65%. In contrast, the proportion of workers who have not been paid for overtime work has increased by 50%.
The likelihood of businesses in the commerce sector closing down was also examined in the ESEE report. As might be expected, public limited companies were more resistant to closure. Eight out of 10 enterprises in this category believed they were not at risk of closure, or that the probability is very slight. Figures showed a slightly decreased ratio compared to the same figures in 2012.
However, even among public limited enterprises a significant percentage, around 10%, considered the risk of a shutdown as high or inevitable.
Among limited and general partnership companies, the percentage of those feeling safe was lower compared to public limited companies. Figures showed 69.5% felt safe from the risk of closure. The probability of a shutdown was also higher in this category, at 17%, due to the prevailing financial crisis.
ESEE has pointed out in its reports that the labour market in the commerce sector has become deregulated, assisted by changes to the legal framework.
This deregulation is also the result of two weaknesses – the inability of employers to fulfil their obligations towards their workers, and the inability of workers to react for fear of losing their jobs or of the enterprise failing.
ESEE also said the increase in selective payment for overtime work may be understood in terms of two aspects of the issue. Firstly, the payment of overtime was vital for some businesses that had cut staff and were asking the remaining workers to do extra work crucial to the enterprise. Secondly, this was combined with the need to maintain, to a certain extent, workers’ satisfaction with their employment conditions, and possibly also due to the increase of a more intense form of paternalistic management compared to the past.
The ESEE commented that in 2013 the Greek commerce sector – along with other small and medium enterprises – faced a difficult climate resulting from the recent developments in the management of the crisis affecting Greece’s economy.
The return of economic growth – if the economy picks up – will allow small and medium enterprises to regain their strength and to recover some of the lost ground. However, any continuation of the particularly adverse current economic conditions would condemn them to permanent financial misery, under constant fear of shutdown.
Sofia Lampousaki, Labour Institute of Greek General Confederation of Labour (INE/GSEE)