Challenges and adjustments of health and labour policies in Greece during the COVID-19 era: A critical assessment to the key social policy responses

The welfare state in Greece has experienced multiple challenges and problems prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, as a result of its chronic structural pathologies and the financial constraints imposed by austerity. The pandemic that followed the ten-year economic crisis led to a new multidimensional crisis, which increased the pressure on the national health system, and precipitated the uptake of targeted measures and policies to uphold employment due to lockdowns. Arguably, these pressures have brought to the fore the need to establish a new welfare state, more flexible, more inclusive, and more efficient, to live up to the increasing societal, health and economic demands. That said health and employment account for those two sectors that were under huge strain throughout this period and constitute significant areas of thorough investigation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the variations in health and employment policies (key pillars of the welfare state) during the COVID-19 pandemic, and assess whether there is a need for further interventions with regards to social security and prosperity of citizens. Methodologically, mixed methods in the form of secondary quantitative and qualitative data in the fields of health and employment will be employed for the analysis of this research. The scope of this article is to offer a deeper understanding and analysis of the implemented policies in the aftermath of the economic crisis and during the pandemic and thus contribute to the discussion of strengthening the welfare state in dealing more effectively with the social risks in turbulent times.