Unemployment in Greece Article Review

The article I would like to discuss deals with the latest unemployment concern of the young population in Greece, a member state of the European Union, which is currently disturbed by the hard economic consequences associated with the recent world crisis. “Young, Greek and unemployed”, the article written by Dody Tsiantar for CNN Money (Dody Tsiantar, CNN Money, posted March 2, 2011), firstly introduces a short remark about the historical past of the country and then switches to the relevant economic and social issues in order to explain the origin of the process and the make a forecast of the employment tendencies and opportunities.

The author primarily outlines that the unemployment nowadays is a major concern in many countries and regions of the world, that’s why it is one of the important topics for discussions by the International Labour Organization, which refers to the unemployed youth as to the “lost generation”.

The background of the reduction in job opportunities is quite obvious: Greece has been a debtor since the end of 2009. Until the economic activity in the country intensifies again, new work places will not be created. At the moment, the employed part of population tries to hold the current jobs, and the employers will not probably consider changing the experienced workers that recognize the value of their jobs for the young and inexperienced graduates of schools and universities. As a result, the young specialists have to wait for the better times, start their own businesses or search for alternatives in own country or abroad. In the article, Tsiantar comments that the age of people who experience difficulties in finding a job in Greece reaches 35-year limit. In addition, as inferred from Chart 1, almost twice as much youth at the age of 15-24 (35.6 percent) are unemployed in comparison to 25-34 year-olds (17.9 percent).

Taking into consideration these statistical rates, I suppose that the youth is often too ambitious to accept the job offers, which seem to be unattractive from the financial perspective or working conditions. An author of the article makes an example of a Greek female, a certified specialist possessing two degrees from the foreign universities, who gave up searching for a job after sending out the CV to less than fifty employers. Taking into consideration the current economic situation in Greece and outside it, the university degree seems not to be such a determinative factor as it was before when the market was saturated with job offers. Now the employers look mostly for maximizing their profits or even sustaining their businesses – spending money on costly specialists may not give a desirable effect and is usually not paid out.

The insiders comment that they would prefer to search for the job outside Greece. However, it is not technically affordable for everyone – young people now often have to choose between their personal life and career. For most of them, the choice of priority will predetermine their nearest future or even the whole life. The author of the articles shows the statistics that around 40 percent of young Greek population looks forward to finding a job opportunity abroad, and Greek students who left to earn degrees outside Greece do not plan to come back. At least, their family and friend do not suggest them to.

Anyway, there is a solution for the problem of unemployment identified by the Greek government. Basically, the government associates the absence of job with the oversaturation of work force in special disciplines and sciences and lacking the qualified work force in less attractive spheres of occupation like, for example, technical professions. It is said that if the distribution of students according to their specializations and occupations gets more equal, it will be possible to employ more youth and create a balance in the social and economic spheres. However, the government also recognizes that it is quite difficult to match the demand for the work force with its supply.

In conclusion, I would like to mention that the unemployment rates reflect the real economic situation in the society and usually clearly indicate the internal problems within the society. The mood of the most responders in the article is quite pessimistic and frustrated, which witnesses about their desperation and unwillingness to proceed with the searches and strive for success. Therefore, the role of the government could be significant if the governments participates in aspiring the youth and helps them find the alternatives not to be called “the lost generation”.

References

Dody Tsiantar, “Young, Greek and unemployed,” CNN Money,
posted March 2, 2011, http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/02/
news/international/greece-youth-unemployment-global.fortune/index.htm (accessed June 7, 2011).