With the momentum given to him by growth – a 20-year record – in employment, he is moving forward. EFKAwhereby, as recorded in his draft budgetto close with a surplus of €1.78 billion in 2022, and to remain on a surplus path of around €1.3 billion in 2023. In fact, this is achieved despite a significant increase in pension spending by €1.27 billion, mainly due to account, for the first time in 12 years, an increase in pensions by at least 7%, from January 1, 2023.

Significant growth in employment during 2022 and continued high level in 2023 leads to higher incomes social security systemand hence the creation of a surplus. In detail, the figures in the draft budget for 2023 show that in the current year, the surplus of social policy organizations will be significantly increased compared to the originally budgeted, due to an increase in employment by 6.7% in general for the first half of the year. and by 5.0% in 2Q 2022. The increase in the number of employees was even higher both in 2Q 2022 and in the first half of the year as a whole (6.6% and 8.0%, respectively), which led to an increase dependent labor wages in the economy as a whole, at 7.8% year on year in both periods.

Of course, now and at least until March 2023, the economic staff expects a temporary decrease in the positive dynamics in the labor market, which is associated with an increase in production and operating costs of enterprises and a decrease in demand. Thus, in general, for 2022, the employment growth rate is expected to be at the level of 4.6%.

As of 2023, the total employees employment is expected to rise to 4.9 million, the highest ever since 1995. However, on an annualized basis, growth will be only 0.2% due to a slowdown in external demand and an increase in operating costs of enterprises. Income is, of course, also affected by the increase in wages, mainly the minimum expected to be implemented in May 2023, the increase in the contributions of the self-employed, as well as the participation of enterprises and the self-employed in debt repayment.

According to the data, at the end of 2022, income from employers’ and employees’ contributions will reach 23.636 billion euros, which is 1.306 billion more than the initial revenue forecast of 22.33 billion euros.

Accordingly, revenues in 2023 will reach 23.777 billion, an increase of only 141 million. Thus, the draft budget provides for a surplus of 1.3 billion for social security institutions, which is considered significantly high, but noticeably lower (by 471 million euros) according to relative to the current year’s projected surplus.

The rate of employment in the midst of the energy crisis, as the head of the State Budget Office in Parliament, Frangiskos Kutentakis, is one of the uncertainties characterizing the draft budget for 2023, while social security experts point out that frequent mistakes can also be a mini-fiscal bomb in the issuance of new pensions, which, as observed in the private sector, relate to almost 2 out of 10 new pensions. EFKA, however, believes that the problem is limited, but they are starting to form a special group that will deal exclusively with the control of objections.