The new package of measures for the demographic recovery aims at reconciling family and professional life, increasing the fertility rate and improving the ratio of workers to pensioners, as announced by the Minister of Labor Yannis Panagiotou.
In a press conference with the participation of the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare Marilena Evangelos and the Deputy Minister of Para President Irini Piki, the second package of measures announced recently was analyzed, together with the timetable for their implementation as well as the wider government policy on the matter.
The measures include, among others, increases in benefits, expansion of parental leave beneficiaries, financial support for new mothers, as well as initiatives to boost employment for the unemployed. At the same time, the National Agency for Demographic and Family Policy is being upgraded.
The Minister noted that the demographic recovery of the country is a top priority for the Government, since as he said the demographic data of the European Union are worrying, which is also reflected in the Republic of Cyprus. He said that according to the data of the last twenty years the average fertility rate per woman has decreased from 1,46 children in 2002 to 1,37 children in 2022.
It added that the average age of a mother at the birth of her first child increased from 26,7 years in 2002 to 29,8 years in 2000. Average life expectancy increased from 77,5 years in 2002 to 81,6 years in 2022. .The ratio of native population workers and pensioners varied negatively from 2,51 workers to one pensioner in 2002 to 1,82 to one in 2022.
The Minister stated that the Council of Ministers decided to implement an integrated policy framework for the demographic recovery of the country.
"We want to get as many of our country's citizens working as possible, and while participating in the labor market, births increase at the same time, so that the ratio of workers and retirees acquires a positive trend in an evolutionary way and at the same time the negative trend in the birth rate to diversify so that it starts to be positive," he said.
Three packages of measures for the demographic recovery
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The policy framework for demographic recovery, as explained by the Minister, consists of three packages of measures with a financial cost exceeding €100 million.
The first set of measures was implemented during the first 18 months of the current administration, with a financial cost approaching €50 million.
The second set of measures will be implemented gradually over the next 12 months, with a financial cost exceeding €50 million.
The third package of measures will be combined with the implementation of the transformation of the tax system, the reform of the pension system and the conversion of all primary schools into full-day schools during the administration.
The first package of measures included specific measures that began to be implemented, such as the extension of maternity leave by 4 weeks, the expansion of the beneficiaries of parental leave to include the self-employed, the housing subsidy for young couples, the subsidy of egg cryopreservation and of artificial insemination, the increase in the allowance for a large mother, the increase in the child allowance, the payment of an allowance to students from large families, the extension of tuition and child feeding subsidies, the strengthening of childcare services for working parents and the extension of full-day schooling .
The new measures in detail
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The second package includes measures to reconcile family and professional life to create an upward trend in the fertility rate and measures to increase participation in the labor market to improve the ratio of workers and retirees.
The measures aimed at creating an upward trend in the fertility rate are the increase in the maternity allowance, the expansion of the beneficiaries of the parental leave allowance, the targeted increase in the duration of the parental leave allowance, the elimination of the criteria for the payment of child allowance to all families with 5 or more dependent children, the creation of daycare centers in workplaces, the extension of the opening hours of daycare centers and the financial support of younger mothers.
The measures aimed at improving the ratio of workers and pensioners are to strengthen the employment of unemployed and inactive women, unemployed under 30 and unemployed over 50, the promotion of seasonal work for students and the institutionalization of paid internships. Also the increase in the maternity allowance paid by the Social Insurance Fund to around 8000 mothers per year. From the almost €630 which is the amount paid today, it is extended to €1.000 for the first child, to €1.500 for the second child and to €2.000 for the third child and will be applied retroactively from 01/10/2024, according to bill to be introduced in the House of Representatives within the next few weeks.
At the same time, as the Minister mentioned, the extension of the beneficiaries of the parental leave allowance will double the beneficiaries of this benefit by expanding the age limit of the child from 8 years to 15 years and will be implemented according to a bill that will be submitted to the Parliament within next weeks. Also, he said, there is a targeted increase in the duration of the parental leave allowance for the second child from 8 weeks to 10 weeks, for the third child, from 8 weeks to 12 weeks, according to a bill that will be submitted to Parliament within the next few weeks will be implemented at the same time as the extension of the beneficiaries of the parental leave allowance with the increase of the age limit for children.
For the payment of child allowance to all families with five dependent children or more with the elimination of the income criteria, a legislative amendment will be submitted to the Parliament also within the next week, with the aim of these measures being put before the Plenary of the Parliament before the end of the year.
The creation of childcare centers for the needs of working parents in workplaces with the support of businesses and through subsidizing the cost, for businesses and for business partnerships, will start to be implemented through the plan announcement within the second quarter of 2025.
The extension of the opening hours of daycare centers through the pilot extension of the afternoon hours of operation of nurseries and childcare centers until half past seven in the afternoon to better respond to the needs of working parents, will begin to be implemented within the third quarter of 2025.
The financial support of younger mothers who are entitled to the payment of maternity benefit and have their first child before the age of 30, with the payment of financial support of €200 per month for a period of 24 months after childbirth and with a total amount of financial support aid of €4.800, will start to be applied from September 2025.
Boosting the employment of unemployed over-50s through mentoring, wage subsidies and vocational training to employ a few hundred unemployed over-30s will be rolled out with a plan announced in the coming weeks . Enhancing the employment of unemployed and inactive women, as well as unemployed under 1000s through mentoring, wage subsidy and vocational training covering nearly 2025 people, will be implemented with the announcement of a plan in early XNUMX.
The institutionalization of paid internships as a learning and development process, with the determination of minimum wages, will be implemented with the submission of a bill to the Parliament within 2025, for which the youth representatives are consulted.
Upgrading of the Demographic and Family Policy Agency
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At the same time, in accordance with the policy framework for demographic recovery, the National Agency for Demographic and Family Policy is being upgraded and reorganized, using the demography toolbox of the European Commission, and a session of the agency has been scheduled to discuss and plan the next steps, which will take place tomorrow Thursday.
The Minister stated that on Thursday the policy framework for the demographic recovery will be presented in detail, so that it can be discussed more with the members of the Agency in relation to the planning of the next steps. In particular, however, he said, the suggestions that have been formulated for upgrading and reorganizing the National Agency will be discussed, so that it can respond more effectively to the needs.
He added that it was found that there was scope for its role to be enhanced to further assist in the implementation of these policies.
Mr. Panagiotou expressed optimism that the new measures in combination with other measures for economic development and social cohesion "create prospects of optimism for an improvement in the negative indicators of demographic trends".
He also said that the Government will closely monitor through specific indicators the progress of the implementation of the measures and the gradual achievement of the objectives, preparing the next package of demographic policy measures.
Deputy Minister of Welfare: Services to facilitate parents are of key importance
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In her intervention, the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, Marilena Evangelou, stated that the formulation of the measures was a collective work, in which other Ministries have cooperated, as well as the Deputy Ministry of Welfare.
He added that in the measures announced, the Deputy Ministry contributes more to achieving the reconciliation of professional and family life by strengthening services, but also by further supporting large families.
The philosophy of the Deputy Ministry, he said, is to combine benefits with services. He noted the importance of the services, stating that for this reason they are proceeding within 2025 to extend the opening hours of the nurseries and childcare centers until half past seven in the evening. This measure will be applied on a pilot basis and will concern stations participating in the tuition subsidy and child feeding scheme.
According to the same philosophy, the plan to support businesses with expenditure subsidies for the creation of nurseries, childcare centers, child protection and employment centers for the needs of working parents, said Mrs. Evangelou.
When asked if there will be similar stations in large Ministries and other public organizations, the Deputy Minister said that they start with the needs of private sector workers who usually work until the evening hours. He said that they know that mostly this need is in the private sector, both for the one plan to extend the hours of operation of the stations until half past seven in the evening, and for the plan for the incentives to create stations that will serve workers in companies.
The Deputy Minister of the President Irini Piki, on behalf of the Secretariat for the coordination of Government work, emphasized that the measures fall within the broader government policy for the improvement of the everyday life of the citizens and the implementation of the governance program of the President of the Republic.
Empowering young people to increase births
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When asked whether any study has been prepared on the tendency of young people to have fewer children, the Minister stated that these decisions about personal life belong to the young people themselves, however what the state is doing is to ensure a wider framework within which these decisions are made, taking into account the benefits paid, the opportunities available, the support provided and the adequacy of remuneration.
He said that the Government is in dialogue with society and young people, evaluating and making use of the findings of the investigations being carried out. He noted that unemployment, although it has fallen to a low percentage, is higher among those under 30 and over 55.
He added that in order to keep more of the workers active in the labor market and to start earlier the integration of younger people into the market, policies are being implemented that facilitate this process.
He cited as an example the strengthening of young people's work during their school years, the statutory remuneration during training and the financial support of mothers under the age of 30, in order to strengthen the prospect of early integration of young people into the labor market, increasing also prospects to start creating his family earlier.
Better use of legal immigration
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In response to a question about the role of immigration in shaping demographic policy, Mr. Panagiotou stated that through the use of the demography toolbox of the European Commission, the Government has already integrated immigration into demographic planning.
This, as he said, is done through the effective treatment of illegal immigration flows and the better utilization of immigration through legal procedures.
"Through the data regarding the results of the implementation of these policies during the previous months of the administration, it is found that illegal immigration is significantly reduced and the utilization of legal processes is expanding in contrast to them," he said.
He added that the procedures for evaluating the requests submitted by employers for the arrival of workers from abroad have been significantly accelerated. Also, he said, the process for the issuance of a decree concerning the implementation of the institutional framework for the so-called blue card is in the final stage, which will also facilitate this process.
He emphasized at the same time that the development of the Cypriot economy and the growth of the labor market has already exceeded the demographic potential of the domestic human resources to fill all the jobs necessary for the operation of the economy.
At the same time, however, he said that emphasis is placed on supporting the domestic human resources, which constitute the Cypriot backbone of the economy, which with a long-term perspective will be in the country and will staff the labor market but will also ensure benefits from the social security system, so so that the demographic prospects of the population of Cyprus develop in a more positive way than that recorded in the previous decades.
Source: KYPE
