Young people are victims of the pandemic

Greek youth will pay a high price for the unfolding pandemic, as the proportion of those who do not work, do not study and do not attend training courses has risen sharply.

Although the country has yet to recover from a ten-year memorandum of 50% youth unemployment, the health crisis has left many young people out of their jobs and out of the labor market.

The pandemic has also affected other groups, such as women, especially young women, and people with lower levels of education.

According to a recent study, in OECD countries, young people’s working hours have decreased more than those of older workers.

Many young people who worked in industries particularly affected by the pandemic have lost their jobs, while those who completed their studies during the pandemic have found it difficult to return to the labor market due to the limited number of vacancies.

Since most young citizens receive low wages, the fact that they remain out of the labor market for a long time creates a huge gap in the country’s production model in the coming years. Young people will not have the experience to get a higher-paying job and, therefore, to stabilize at a sufficiently good standard of living, which ultimately negatively affects the country’s demography (not enough funds to get married and have children).

Despite the fact that the unemployment rate in May 2021 was 15.9%, which is significantly lower than the corresponding indicator in May 2020 (16.8%), but in the previous month it was (17.1%) among young people, mostly people under 29 years old.

According to Alfa-Bank’s weekly economic development bulletin, the employment rate of young people aged 15-29 has declined in all quarters: from the second quarter of 2020 onwards.

According to quarterly estimates by the statistical office ELSTAT, in the first quarter of 2021, the number of employees under the age of 29 declined by 13.9% year-on-year, compared with a 10.8% decline between the ages of 30 and 44.

In contrast, employment increased annually during the pandemic among people over 45 years old.

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