At the beginning of August, the Greek Public Employment Service (DYPA) will open applications for a new employment program targeting unemployed individuals aged 55 and older. The initiative aims both to support re-employment and to help participants complete the required social security contributions for pension eligibility. DYPA Director Gianna Chormova announced the launch during an interview with ERTnews, also revealing that applications for a separate program offering 1,000 job positions for university and technological education graduates—aged up to 54—will open immediately.
A Program Designed for Older Jobseekers
The program for those over 55 is intended to address staffing shortages in municipalities, regional authorities, and public-law legal entities, while also tackling age-related discrimination in the labor market. Participants will be employed for 24 months (in two 12-month phases), with full social security coverage. DYPA will subsidize employers—including local and regional governments—for the wages of hired staff.
Eligible candidates must be registered unemployed individuals aged 55 or older. Priority will be given to long-term unemployed applicants, with duration of unemployment serving as the primary selection criterion. In cases where sufficient long-term unemployed candidates are unavailable in a given region, those with shorter unemployment periods may also be considered.
Applications will be submitted by employers—not individual jobseekers—at the start of August. DYPA’s labor counselors will then propose suitable candidates from its registry of registered unemployed persons. Final selection rests with the hiring employer. DYPA aims to complete all procedures by the end of September to enable swift hiring, given strong interest from both employers and jobseekers.
Graduate Employment Program Opens Immediately
Separately, DYPA has opened applications for 1,000 positions reserved for registered unemployed graduates of university and technological education institutions, aged up to 54. This program is deliberately designed not to overlap with the one for older jobseekers.
Candidate selection will be based on a points system evaluating length of unemployment, professional experience, academic qualifications, and other relevant credentials—followed by interviews. Monthly net salaries are set at €1,250 for university graduates and €1,200 for graduates of technological education institutions.
Unlike the over-55 program, applications for this graduate scheme must be submitted directly by the jobseekers themselves. Interested candidates are urged to closely monitor official DYPA announcements and carefully select available positions.
Applications for DYPA’s vocational training schools are also currently underway.