Greek Joblessness Long-Term Woe

Political promises aside, it will take at least 20 years for Greece to recreate the one million jobs lost during an economic crisis that saw the rate soar to a record 28 percent in a four-year period, the Labor Institute of the General Confederation of Greek Labor (INE/GSEE) said in its monthly report. While Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said he’s creating a “success story,” and will turn around the battered economy this year, and has promised to create jobs, the analysts said otherwise, at least in terms of getting people back to work. The rate for those under 25 has hovered from 60-65 percent but Samaras’ promise to put 75,000 of them to work by January came and went without another word. The report said the unemployment rate will still be a disastrous 17 percent in 2026, even if the economy grows 3.5-4 percent a year, although it’s still shrinking and nearly 1.4 million people are without a job. The analysts said the problem is that the joblessness is entrenched in the structural problems of Greece, a service-oriented country where most people hoped to find work in the public sector, which is being cut on the orders of international lenders. For the economy to recreate the jobs lost since 2009, when the unemployed numbered just 450,000, it will need at least 20 years with an annual job creation rate of 50,000, INE/GSEE explained, basing its estimate on recent forecasts by the European Commission. It added that this year the number of employed will come to 3.53 million, lagging the total of unemployed and financially inactive people by 1.1 million.

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