Young girls at a roof garden bar with Acropolis view
Children of a ...lesser European God seem to be young people in Greece in the last few years. Uncertainty, fear, frustration and rage are only some of the emotions of the new generation that is becoming more and more intense as time goes by. And that occurs due to the fact that finding a job with a decent salary is no longer a midsummer night’s dream. And trust me…there are no exaggerations to this…
Walking along Stadiou Street, in the center of Athens, long queues of the youths can be seen outside the offices of the Greek Manpower Employment Organization known as (OAED). They are waiting for their turn to get the card of unemployment and if they meet the standards of qualification, they will eventually get a monthly “allowance” of 360 Euros.
With this amount of money the Unemployed of Greece are considered to get by paying for the rent and all the monthly bills such as the electricity, the Internet, the cell phone, the Supermarket (!) and so on and so forth.
In fact, according to a survey by the Labor Institute of GSEE the highest level of Unemployment occurs in the younger ages compared to the older ones.
In particular, Unemployment at the age group of 15-24 years rises up to 44,2%, at the age group of 25-29 years at 33,2%, at the ages of 30-44 years at 21,5%,at the age group of 45-64 years to 18.5% and finally at the age group of 65-74 years only at 13%.
The very same time, therefore, that in the European North countries, young people study, work and evolve in their careers, in Greece having a stroke of luck, they’ll find a job which is irrelevant to the object of their studies with the main salary of 495 Euros. As I have already mentioned in my previous posts, in too many cases employees are paid every 2 or 3 months, getting half of their salary and the other one in three months and so on..
Of course, another major problem is faced by the elderly as well as those who are unemployed being unable to find a job because of their age level and those who are retired seeing their pension much more reduced.
The most impressive part to all of this that would probably be an interesting topic for sociological investigation is the passive attitude of the Greeks. No one reacts, no one protests. Perhaps the only outburst of the citizens begins and ends on Facebook posts or in cafés where people of all ages “protest” against the situation of the Economic Crisis , cursing against the Prime Minister, against Germany and the European monetary system. After that, they go home to sleep with life still going on in this small Mediterranean country.