Greek Crisis: 400,000 Jobless and 20,000 Homeless Reveals EC Quarterly Review

European Commission Quarterly Review shows the EU labour market and social situation continues to deteriorate. Greece is among the countries exhibiting the most disappointing data. The Quarterly Review indicates that although member states have continued to implement active labour market policies and measures to reduce the gap between temporary and permanent contracts, wide disparities in employment terms and conditions still remain a challenge within many countries, overall affecting the social coherence in the EU.
The European Commission review, published in the Quarterly EU Employment and Social Situation Review, reveals that the gap between the South and the North is increasing. Unemployment is rising mostly in those countries that have received bailout aid, with more and more young people willing to flee their homelands and go abroad to find better job prospects: among those aged 15-35: 64% Greek, 67% Spanish and Irish and 57% Portuguese.

One of the worst findings of the review is that 400,000 more people have lost their jobs in Greece resulting in a deteriorating quality of life. 660,000 jobs in Spain, 210,000 in Portugal and 180,000 in our neighboring Italy vanished.
The worst is that the figure of Greek homeless people has rapidly increased indicating a very ominous future for the poorest.
“In 2011, the homeless were increased by 25% in comparison to 2009, when their number was 20,000 people. More than half of them (11,000 people) are located in Athens and Piraeus; 8,000 are Greeks. The social phenomenon has spread also to cities like Chania, Irakleio (Crete) and Trikala.”
The review underlines also that 68% of the population in Greece lives below the poverty threshold (that is, it has an income below the 60% of the average national income) and spends more than 40% of its income for renting a home or repaying a mortgage.
To read the full EU report visit the following:
www.europa.eu