Undeclared work rose to 36% in Greece in 2012

Page last updated at 06:08 GMT, Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - 11:08 EST

AMNA--Undeclared work has reached 36% in the country, rising as much as 44% in some regions, while 42% of uninsured workers were foreigners without legal documents, a report on "black" labor in 2012 said on Monday.

The report was conducted by inspectors of the special agency of insurance control of the country's Social Insurances Foundation (IKA) and was based on inspections made during the previous year. The report said that from a total of 19,083 inspections made in 2012, 1,038 enterprises did not report on their workforce. The report also said that 22,006 workers were undeclared (out of a total 60,796 in the inspections), or 36%. The inspection agencies imposed fines totaling 11.9 million euros.

Undeclared work was 30% in 2011, while the percentage of uninsured foreign workers was 40% during the same year..

Markos Tountas, director general of the agency, speaking to AMNA attributed this development to higher taxation and high levels of social insurance contributions. Also, long-term unemployment and unregulated illegal immigration in the country created a new large category of workers with limited demands who are seeking jobs in the unofficial labor market, he noted.