Lost in the Battle over Greek Debt – Youth Unemployment Rate Above 50%

Lost in the battle over Greek debt and austerity is the fact that unemployment among people under 25 remains over 50%. At 50.1% in February, the last available data, even if Greece can pay its debt short term, an entire generation could contribute little to gross domestic product GDP and taxes. This is particularly concerning as these unemployed people reach the core years of their earning power, probably a decade from now.

Unemployment among the entire population of Greece was 25.4% in February, according to Eurostat. Among the 28 members of the European Union, the figure was 9.7% in the most recently reported period.

There is no way to imagine where new employment can come from. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects unemployment in Greece to stay above 20% through 2017, and then improve very slowly after that through 2020, the last year of its projection.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Greek Youth Unemployment Rate Above 50% – 24/7 Wall St..