Labor Market Trends in Greece over the Crisis Period, 2009-2014

In this paper we present key statistics on the labor market of Greece and the Eurozone over the crisis period 2009-2014, with particular emphasis given to youth and longterm unemployment and its consequences. Statistics on the previous occupations of the unemployed, methods used for seeking work and type of employment sought are also presented. Used data reveal that the change of the working-age population in Greece during the crisis follows a U-shape over age with a greater decline occurring in the 25 to 29 years age group as a result of high emigration of the young age group attributable to the decline in economic activity. Greece suffers from unprecedented and socially unacceptable rates of unemployment with the youth and long-term unemployment rates being even more alarming and worrying as they may have such devastating and long-term debilitating effects on young people that have been called ‘scarring effects’. Those scarring effects on young people are interpreted in the literature’ in terms of two factors, the first factor relating to the depreciation of their human capital and readiness to work and the second relating to the so-called ‘unemployment stigma’