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Employment and Unemployment in Greece Before and After the Outbreak of the Crisis

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Socioeconomic Fragmentation and Exclusion in Greece under the Crisis

Part of the book series: New Perspectives on South-East Europe ((NPSE))

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors present and analyze developments in employment and unemployment in Greece before and after the outbreak of the crisis. Multiple aspects of these dimensions are examined, making use of historical and comparative data. The authors demonstrate the overall deterioration of the Greek labour market during the crisis and identify a process of twin fragmentation taking place as a result: (a) a substantial and typically persistent divergence between the performance of the Greek labour market and that of the labour markets in the rest of the euro area and (b) a significant divergence in the fortunes of different population groups in the Greek labour force, which for the most part reinforces existing fragmentation lines.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Employment Protection Legislation Index incorporates several data items concerning regulations for individual and collective dismissals for regular contracts, such as notification procedures, the time required before notice can start, length of the notice period, severance pay, definition of justified or unfair dismissals, length of trial period and compensation following unfair dismissal. For more information and full methodology, see www.oecd.org/employment/protection

  2. 2.

    Laws 3863/2010 and 3899/2010.

  3. 3.

    Council of Ministers’ Decision 2/2012 and consolidated by laws 4046/2012 and 4093/2012.

  4. 4.

    OECD Glossary, available at https://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=2016

  5. 5.

    ISCED is the reference international classification for organizing education programmes and related qualifications by levels and fields. ISCED 2011 (levels of education) is implemented in all EU data collections from 2014. More information is available at http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/International_Standard_Classification of Education_(ISCED)

  6. 6.

    Available at http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1298&langId=en

  7. 7.

    As noted in Appendix 1, owing to limitations in data availability, the figures for the employment rates per educational level have been calculated on the basis of the entire population above 15 years old and not for the typical group 15–64. This affects the reported figures with some levels (e.g. the highly educated) presenting a better picture and some levels (e.g. the lower educated) presenting a worse picture compared with the figures that would result if the standard 15–64 age group were used.

  8. 8.

    Structural unemployment is the natural rate of unemployment which faces a labour market in the long run and in the absence of economic shocks. It is mainly determined by institutional factors such as the employment protection legislation and the unemployment benefit system and by factors such as technological progress (Orlandi 2012, 7). Structural unemployment affects the total unemployment rate, and therefore the public expenditure to tackle unemployment, as well as the total product of an economy.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Athens, Greece

    Kyriakos Filinis

  2. Council of Economic Advisors, Athens, Greece

    Alexandros Karakitsios

  3. National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Dimitris Katsikas

Authors
  1. Kyriakos Filinis
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  2. Alexandros Karakitsios
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  3. Dimitris Katsikas
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Dimitris Katsikas

  2. National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos

  3. Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece

    Maria Zafiropoulou

Appendices

Appendix 1

 

Group employment percentage change (vs. 2007)

Percentage change of group contribution to total employment (vs. 2007)a

Group contribution to total employment (%)

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

Population group

2013

2016

2013

2016

2007

2013

2016

Total (15–64)

−22.7

−19.3

–

–

–

–

–

Male

−25.3

−22.9

−15.3

−13.9

60.6

58.6

58.0

Female

−18.8

−13.8

−7.4

−5.5

39.4

41.4

42.1

Ages 15–24

−57.3

−55.2

−3.9

−3.8

6.9

3.8

3.8

Ages 25–49

−23.0

−20.6

−16.2

−14.5

70.3

70.1

69.4

Ages 50–64

−11.3

−4.5

−2.6

−1.0

22.7

26.1

26.9

Low educational level (0–2)b

−40.5

−47.1

−13.0

−15.1

32.0

24.7

19.2

Middle educational level (3−4)a

−22.7

−15.2

−9.5

−6.3

41.7

41.9

45.8

High educational level (5–8)a

−2.3

7.2

−0.6

1.9

26.3

33.4

38.5

  1. Sources: Eurostat, Authors’ calculations
  2. aBased on groups’ 2007 population shares
  3. bHellenic Statistical Authority. The employment rates for this category have been calculated as the ratio of the employed to the population more than 15 years old and not those 15–64

Appendix 2

 

Group unemployment percentage change (vs. 2007)

Percentage change of group contribution to total unemployment (vs. 2007)

Group contribution to total unemployment (%)

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

Population group

2013

2016

2013

2016

2007

2013

2016

Total (15–64)

217.5

168.8

–

–

–

–

–

Male

334.8

240.9

122.7

88.3

36.5

50.2

46.4

Female

149.6

127.0

94.8

80.5

63.4

49.9

53.5

Ages 15–24

103.3

37.0

22.4

8.0

21.7

13.9

11.0

Ages 25–49

225.3

167.2

154.8

114.9

68.6

70.4

68.2

Ages 50–64

416.6

474.0

40.3

45.8

9.7

15.8

20.7

Low educational level (0–2)

207.1

130.5

58.9

37.1

28.4

27.5

24.2

Middle educational level (3–4)

221.7

178.1

109.4

87.9

49.4

49.9

50.8

High educational level (5–8)

223.7

204.0

49.7

45.3

22.2

22.6

25.0

  1. Sources: Eurostat, Authors’ calculations
  2. aBased on groups’ 2007 population shares

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Filinis, K., Karakitsios, A., Katsikas, D. (2018). Employment and Unemployment in Greece Before and After the Outbreak of the Crisis. In: Katsikas, D., Sotiropoulos, D., Zafiropoulou, M. (eds) Socioeconomic Fragmentation and Exclusion in Greece under the Crisis. New Perspectives on South-East Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68798-8_3

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