Unemployment remains a scourge for Greek youth

Over 25 percent of Greece’s youth were both unemployed and not studying in an educational institution in 2018 according to the most recent data in an employment survey released by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).

Greece has the second highest level of youth unemployment in the European Union as 26.8 percent of youths between the ages of 20 and 34 are neither professionally employed, nor in an apprenticeship, nor studying in an educational programme.

The data show that young Greek women are more vulnerable than men in the same age bracket, as 33.7 percent of them are neither working nor studying (compared to 20.1 percent for young men).

That is by far the highest percentage in the EU.

Greece has the largest percentage of marginalised youths in the EU, as as it exceeded by about 10 percentage points the European average, which is 16.5 percent.

The only country with a higher percentage than Greece is Italy with 29 percent.

Among EU member-states, Sweden has the lowest percentage in the EU of youth who are unemployed and not studying, as only 8 percent of Swedish youths fell into that category.

With 8.4 percent, Holland has the second lowest percentage.