Ministry to look into extending dole period

WITH THE island’s unemployment rate reaching a record 24,336 in March, the Labour Ministry is considering the basis on which it might extend the period for paying unemployment benefits to some 5,000 people who have been out of work for more than six months – the cut-off time for the subsidy.

March’s figure of 4,898 people registered as unemployed for over six months is the highest ever, representing 20.1 per cent of the total unemployed.

This is a slight percentage increase compared to the last twelve months, during which the monthly percentage was usually between 17 and 19 per cent, with the exception of May 2009 when it reached 22.2 per cent of the total.

Prompted by a proposal from trade union federation SEK – made at the latest National Employment Committee meeting – for the qualifying period for unemployment benefit to be extended immediately to nine months, and eventually to 12 months, Labour Minister Sotiroulla Charalambous in turn proposed that any decision should be postponed until after the publication later this month of the results of a special survey being carried out for the ministry by the Employment Observatory.

The survey posed a series of questions to a representative sample of 600 people who were unemployed from July 2009 to February 2010. The questions addressed what their work profile was before they became unemployed, their economic resources after the expiry of their unemployment benefit, participation in paid training schemes and so on.

Charalambous expressed concern that any discussion on extending benefit payments should take into account the factors on which economic recovery depends, as well as the potential impact on the Social Insurance Fund. She added that it would be wrong to enable people to opt out of actively looking for work.

The Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEV) and the Cyprus Chambers of Commerce (KEVE) have chosen not to state a public position on the extension proposal until after the survey results are published.

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