ECONOMY

Greece will need at least 10 years to bring unemployment under 20%, says union study

It will take at least 20 years for unemployment in Greece to drop below 10 percent, according to leaked extracts of a report on the Greek economy prepared by the country’s main private sector union, GSEE.

According to the Athens-Macedonia News Agency, GSEE’s Labor Institute found that it would take two decades or more for unemployment, currently at 27 percent, to decline to pre-crisis levels.

The study also suggests that by 2014 Greeks’ purchasing power will be half of what it was before the crisis began, with wages declining by a combined 41 billion euros over the last three years.

The GSEE Labor Institute also suggested that domestic demand had already dropped to the same level as 1999.

The report, which is due to be released in the next few days to coincide with the Thessaloniki International Fair, also indicated that Greece’s fixed capital stock declined between 2011 and 2013 for the first time since the end of the Greek Civil War more than 60 years ago.

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