Youth unemployment is a widespread problem, tackled by different countries in the context of different types of economies. In 2009, at the beginning of the crisis overall labour force participation in Greece was 66 per cent, which was already lower than the EU27 average of 73 per cent. The crisis started to hit Greece harder during the period 2010–2011 and the labour force participation decreased even further due to the structural changes and austerity measures which produced effects that the socio-economic system could not easily support and react to. The fewer job opportunities and the higher demand of skills, limited about 30 per cent the labour force participation of young people in the age of 15-24.
As a result young people tend to be disadvantaged when entering the labour market due to limited or no work experience, a mismatch between the skills that they possess and those demanded by the labour market, a lack of career management / job search skills or access to professional networks. This phenomenon tends to be more intense during times of recession. At its peak, Greece experienced an alarming youth unemployment rate of 59.5 % in the first quarter of 2013. Since then youth benefitted more than adults from an improving labour market situation, though the youth unemployment still more than doubles the rate before the crisis: the youth unemployment rate fell to 50.1 % in January 2015 compared to 21 % in the second quarter of 2008. Overall unemployment rose from 7.7 % in 2008 to 27.3 % in 2013, going down to 25.3 % in January 2015 (= 1,2 million unemployed).
In Greece, as a result from the crisis, the NEET-youth rate has nearly doubled since 2007 when it was close to the EU average. It went up from 11 % to more than 20 % in 2013. This was twice as high as the Europe 2020 target set at 10 %.
Due to the above, the youth inactivity in Greece is reflected in the growing involvement of young people in the education . During the period of 2000 to 2008 an increase of 30 per cent was registered in the involvement of young people in education and training .The involvement of young people in skills-building activities aims to secure more productive and innovative future workers with the potential to increase Greece’s competitiveness in the EU knowledge based economy. Youth labour force participation during the crisis was low, but this was a form of local investment in national human capital, since more and more young people were involved in education and training. Higher educational success would have naturally increased expectations regarding the wage levels upon entering the labour market at a later stage (possibly after the age of 25).
One of the reasons of the problem of inactivity is the number of inactive people who are not seeking a job and are outside the educational and vocational programmes. These people are discouraged regarding the possibility of finding a proper job with a wage necessary for their survival. The fact of low salaries and the fewer opportunities leads young people to abandon the job searching or even worse it leads them to immigration. Although currently there are not specific statistics, one just has to look around to see young people working in bars, cafes and restaurants in service and as delivery boys. If they are lucky to be hired for full time jobs, the wage they receive is 510 euros gross per month, around 400 net. For part-time jobs they earn some 200 euros and are often not registered at the social security agencies.
https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id/09475.pdf
https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2018/09/07/youth-unemployment-greece/
https://www.tovima.gr/2018/12/06/international/greek-youth-the-biggest-victims-of-unemployment-with-a-rate-of-over-30-percent/
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2015/542220/IPOL_BRI(2015)542220_EN.pdf
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Youth_unemployment
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This article has been written by Melina Meldonyan about the project Workpetence which is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein