A recently published report by the global non-profit organization Endeavor Greece came to the conclusion that Greece is going to need another 25 years in order to create the jobs needed to beat unemployment.
“Achieving this in less than a decade would require the tripling of efforts focusing on value-adding sectors and the doubling of their success rate. Above all it would require the creation of a proper business ecosystem, which nurtures, supports and connects high-impact ventures,” noted the report, which will be presented at the third International Conference on Philanthropy of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), on June 26 and 27. The study was funded by SNF.
According to Endeavor Greece, the country lost a total of 1 million jobs over the last five years. Three sectors alone account for 2/3 of the jobs that were lost: construction, retail/wholesale trade and non-food manufacturing. Meanwhile, other sectors such as real-estate have been practically wiped out.
“Three sectors have managed to retain and even increase employment during the turbulence of the crisis. ICT increased employment by 6%, while agricultural and food manufacturing maintained employment at 2008 levels,” revealed the report.
Furthermore, it stressed the fact that young people in Greece have been disproportionately affected by the rising levels of unemployment, with more than half a million jobs lost. “More than 200,000 Greeks, most of them under 35 years old, have left the country and are currently employed abroad. This group, typically highly educated and skilled, pursues a career mainly in the EU (71%). Within EU, Germany and UK are the most popular career destinations, absorbing more than 50% of migrating Greeks.”
It is now clear that Greece should focus on specific sectors, such as agriculture, food manufacturing, tourism, logistics, and technology where the country has an advantage in regards to raw materials, geographical position and human resources.
It is estimated that more than 640,000 will be forced to change their field of work, while more than 500,000 will be forced to move outside Athens and Thessaloniki to seek work in other parts of Greece.
“The current boom in startups is a good beginning. We do not however, expect the almost 200 startups that are launched every year to create the hundreds of thousands of jobs needed. Especially since most of them are focused on a single sector and only a fraction of them can be considered high-impact,” stressed the Endeavor Greece report.
Finally, it stated that young people should be the ones to lead the transformation of Greece. As entrepreneurs or workers, they have the means to overcome Greece’s chronic resistance to change. “The country has done very little to provide young Greeks with proper education, employment opportunities, extrovert mindset, collaborative spirit, and inspiration. However, Greek youths demonstrate an impressive mobility, entrepreneurial attitude and optimism to drive change.”
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