Northern Greece has the highest rates of unemployment in continental Europe, according to a new report from Eurostat on unemployment, with university qualification making little difference to job prospects.
According to Euronews website, seven out of ten young people in West Macedonia are not able to find work. The region used to be quite prosperous due to the Public Power Corporation that was located in the area, which offered “thousands of well-paid jobs.” However, this all changed 10 years ago.
“The absolute dominance of the energy sector emasculated any significant entrepreneurship that could have been developed,” said Tasos Sidiropoulos, program director of the West Macedonia Development Country.
Even though most young Greek have university qualifications, this does not change the fact that they are not able to find jobs, or even if they do find one, the wage is always below minimum and they usually don’t get insurance. Meanwhile, finding employment in one’s field of expertise is virtually impossible.
Stefanos Stergiou, a graduate in sound engineering, expressed his frustration: “I’ve been looking for a job for two and a half years now. I search the web every day, special sites. I’ve sent CVs, in Greece and abroad. All I’ve managed to find are short-term jobs, mostly in bars, and without insurance.”
The University of West Macedonia currently has 15,000 students enrolled. However, most of them will not be able to find a job when they finish their studies. There are so many graduates that the Greek job market is unable to absorb them.
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