Greece found to be European skills laggard
Greece and Spain are the European laggards when it comes to skills, as both countries face a 77 percent skills deficit, Alpha Bank noted in its weekly bulletin on Tuesday.
The lender’s report showed that Greece’s scores are particularly low in three main indexes: development and the activation and matching of skills; the latter appears to be the most significant, as it is supposed to ensure that the supply and demand of skills in the labor market coincide: This is where Greece is rock bottom – two points below Spain’s score too.
Alpha says that the failure to match skill supply and demand is also reflected in the high percentage of long-term unemployed in Greece. Remaining out of work for a long period weakens human capital and undermines skills, thereby making it that much more difficult for people to find full-time employment as they constantly become less competitive. This also leads to an increase in employment in other economic fields that are irrelevant to their expertise or skills. Furthermore, it slows down the reduction rate for structural unemployment.
