Τετάρτη 30 Οκτωβρίου 2013

Social Economy and Youth Unemployment: The Greek Case - Peer review Croatia 2013


Peer Review on Social Economy,
Comments paper: Greece Croatia 2013,
 (Zagreb, 29-30 October 2013)


Social Economy: The Greek Case


Konstantinos Geormas
Head of Social Economy Registry, 

Styliani Graikioti
Official, Social Economy Registry

Hellenic Ministry of Labour,
Social Security  and Welfare

Introduction

Greece has been severely hit from the current crisis. The need for fiscal consolidation has had significant impacts both to the economy and the social situation. The GDP contracted by 6,4% in 2012 and is expected to contract by 4% the current year. Unemployment, has risen sharply and employment rate has fallen to 55,3% in 2012. Recently, Greece has shown some positive signs regarding fiscal consolidation and leading conjunctural and financial market indicators are showing a tendency for stabilization.
The historical high level of unemployment, long-term unemployment and youth unemployment (up to 29 years) constitute key factors for severe poverty and social exclusion. Along with that the number of households with very low work intensity has increased dramatically, homelessness is on rise during the last years and child poverty remains an important issue. In that context the main challenges in employment as well as the social protection and social inclusion field for Greece in 2013 are to speed up employment policies and to limit the social impact of the crisis and of the fiscal consolidation measureς through the improvement and effectiveness of social transfers.