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Eight large companies decided to join the new initiative of the state organisation for employment to financially relieve the unemployed by offering them price reductions for their goods and services.

The companies that will join the initiative will themselves determine the reductions they could offer the unemployed and how long their promotions would continue. Eight companies announced that they are joining as of today - the AKMI alliances, the telecommunications company WIND, PepsiCo, Everest fast food restaurants, Kotsovolos stores, Goody's fast food restaurants, Nikas salami factory, and the food products company Papadopoulos.
 
Representatives of the eight companies explained that only the unemployed having a card of the Greek Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED) would be allowed to benefit the reductions. The telecommunications company offers special discounts that will be available on its website in the coming days.

The Employment Organisation’s new program for social support of unemployed registered in its lists aims to stimulate the companies to reduce the prices of their goods and services when the unemployed show their cards. The Employment Organisation starts programs like the above initiative of cooperation between the private and the public sectors, which are beyond its scope of activity, to cope with the social crisis of society and the bad statistics indicating that the poverty threshold would climb to 24%, said the director of the Employment Organisation Elias Kiklias.
 
PepsiCo reduces the prices of the soft drinks and chips sold in large supermarket chains by 20%. The Everest fast food chain reduces the prices for card holders for unemployed by 10% in the restaurants, which are specially marked as participants in the program. The Goody's reduction is 10% and the reduction of Flocafe - 20%. The reductions for unemployed in the Kotsovolos stores begin from 10% on the 3^rd of June and those interested could find more information on their website. The company Nikas, producing meat products and known for its salami, reduces the prices of turkey meat by 21% and of parizaki by 33%. But to benefit from the reduction the unemployed should take coupons by buying 250 grams of either of the salami from the Sklavenitis and Veropoulos supermarkets. The company Papadopoulos soon will announce its special prices for its biscuits and rusk. The representative of AKMI alliances announced a program with a 20% reduction for children who have an unemployed family relative.

"This year, over 1.7 million Greeks will participate or already participate in programs, activities or will be supported by the Employment Organisation the total budget of which is over 3.5 billion euros," said the Organisation's director. He added that currently over 350,000 people are participating in programs and over 200,000 people are going to participate in vocational training programs.
 
A total of about 800,000 people have benefited from the projects of the Organisation with a budget of 2.7 billion euros since the beginning of 2010, while 100,000 unemployed and about 200,000 employees are expected respectively to benefit and to obtain professional qualifications with the five new programs. Until now, 294,000 jobs have been kept, 62,000 people have found a job, while 54,000 seasonal job positions in the tourism sector are filled.

The new programs of the Employment Organisation that will be launched in 2011 include the reintegration of 10,000 unemployed into the labour market, finding job for 5,000 people aged between 55 and 64 years, supporting the companies in the tourism sector through subsidies to hire 70,000 unemployed and keep another 10,000 jobs, and funding companies to recruit 5,000 graduates.

The Employment Organisation also plans to hold a forum on employment on the 14^th and the 15^th of May. Interviews with large companies will be held within its frameworks and it will present tips and techniques for job searching. The Organisation carries out a pilot program in Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras to advise the unemployed people how to reorient on the labour market after having worked for many years in a row. The first 10 of the 30 offices connecting the vocational education and the labour market will start to operate this year and will be targeted mainly at young people who graduate and search job. The new web portal of OAED will be ready within few weeks and it will facilitate jobs offer and search in a modern network of registries and consulting services.