Filenews 5 September 2023 - by Adamos Adamou
The large number of legal foreign workers in the country is also confirmed by the data of the Social Insurance Services. According to them, in 2022, 38% of active insured persons were essentially foreigners, either EU or workers from third countries.
Specifically, out of a total of 555.830 active insured persons in 2022, 19.7% or 109.472 were foreigners – from third countries and 18.1% or 100.882 were EU citizens. 61.6% or 342.333 persons were Greek Cypriot active insured persons, of which 54.142 were employees of the Public Sector and another 25.727 Greek Cypriots were self-employed.
In summary, more than 200 thousand. employees actively insured with the Social Insurance Fund last year were foreigners, Community nationals or from third countries.
Numbers that confirm what the Minister of Labor stated yesterday to CyBC and previously in a post on social media by the central organizer of PEO, Christos Tombazos, who cited the data of active employees in April this year.
According to these data, in various sectors of economic activity, foreign workers have a majority over Greek Cypriot workers. The data of the Social Insurance Services show, among other things, that in agriculture, forestry and fishing only 43.9% are Greek Cypriots, in restaurants only 45.8% and in hotels 41.4%. As would be expected, in household activities as employers, which essentially concerns domestic workers, only 1.1% are Greek Cypriots and 97.6% or 25.341 persons are foreigners from third countries. According to the same data, in the area of public administration and defence, compulsory insurance rate of 96% or 74 thousand. persons are Greek Cypriot active insured.
Meanwhile, interventions on the issue of illegal immigration were also made yesterday on the trade union side, with the leaders of SEK and PEO also stating on state radio that the issue can be addressed by better regulating working conditions in the economy.
Speaking to CyBC, SEK Secretary-General Andreas Matsas argued, among other things, that in order to tackle the problem of illegal immigration, undeclared work must first be combated, pointing out that migration needs a sociological approach. He argued that the real needs of the economy should be assessed and supported in order to emphasize the skills that the economy needs and that collective agreements are urgently concluded to eliminate unfair exploitation.
For her part, PEO General Secretary Sotiroulla Charalambous criticized the previous and current government for migration policy, arguing that we did not arrive at this situation by chance. As he said, one of the roots of evil is the instrumentalization and exploitation of migrants as cheap labour. She argued that even the new strategy for the employment of foreigners does not solve the problem, as the terms and mechanisms of employment of migrants are not clarified.
