A Greek record nobody should be proud of: Youth unemployment in Western Macedonia tops the EUROSTAT list with 72.5%. That is only one out of four of young people aged 15-24 has a job. According to EUROSTAT , “Regional Unemployment Data for 2012”, released on Wednesday, Western Macedonia is followed by Ceuta with 70.6% and Canarias with 62.6%; both regions are in Spain.
“In almost three quarters of the EU27 regions, the unemployment rate for young people was at least twice that for total unemployment,” notes the EUROSTAT report adding that “in almost one fifth of the regions, more than half of the unemployed had been out of work for at least a year .”
Unemployment rates for young people varied from 4.2% in Oberbayern to 72.5% in Dytiki [Western] Makedonia In 2012, the average unemployment rate for young people aged between 15 and 24 in the EU27 was 22.9%.Regional differences in the unemployment rate for young people are however very marked. In the EU27 in 2012,the lowest rates for young people were recorded in the German regions of Oberbayern (4.2%), Tübingen (4.5%) and Freiburg (4.8%), and the highest in Dytiki Makedonia (72.5%) in Greece, Ceuta (70.6%) and Canarias (62.6%) in Spain. .
Greece, Spain compete in unemployment
The EU statistics authority stresses that “25 regions had a rate higher than 20.8%, double that of the EU27 : eleven regions in Spain, ten regions in Greece and four French Overseas Departments.”
Full EUROSTAT report here in pdf.
Long time without job or peanuts for salary
I watched a report on private Skai Tv in the afternoon speaking with young Greeks struggling with unemployment and low-wage subsidized programs. The young university graduates were telling of horror wages of 300 euro for two months and full time work. Or a 500-euro salary if the program was subsidized by the government and the Labor Ministry.
They said, they were getting along with borrowing money from family, friends and relatives. That they were struggling after the absolving of the government program to combat unemployment, to get again their unemployment card and wait for the next program.
Asked about what is considered “a descent salary”, a young lady said ” enough money to pay rent and utilities and fill my fridge. But 500 euro is not enough.”
Austerity imposed in Greece with the blessing of the Troika and the Greek governments, provide salaries of 510 euro gross per month for those below 25 years old and 580 euro gross for those above. The magic “minimum wage formula” that makes Greece allegedly competitive and ruins people’s lives.
Is this the Greece we dreamed about? That people are not able to earn enough to cover basic needs? Apparently….
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