In May 2017 the Employment and Social Affairs Committee of the European Parliament decided to discuss introduction of reforms for transformation of labour market in Greece. The International Labour Organization regularly observes situation in Greek labour market in order to develop relevant recommendations (“International Labor Organization”, 2017). It should be noted that massive unemployment and underemployment has been the major effect of the financial crisis of 2008 in Greece. Since the beginning of the crisis, Greek unemployment rate reaches its peak within the whole territory of the European Union. Its rate reached 24,7% against 6,7% of the OECD rating, while the long-term unemployment became 73.7% in 2015. Besides, it should be noted that several Greek employers report that they face difficulties with hiring of necessary employees. Therefore, the current labour market of the country is features with labour demand and mismatch in supply (Tsampra, 2017). In June 2017 the young employees of Greece observed slight decrease in youth unemployment rate from 43% to 42.8%. Fluctuations in Greek youth unemployment rate is reflected in the Figure 1 below.
There are several reasons of the Greek unemployment rates by age. The representatives of Thomson Reuters DataStream decided that one of the main reasons of high unemployment rate in the country is referred to the cost of labour. The costs were not controlled in the end of the twentieth century so that it increased up to 50%, while the situation in the labour markets of other European countries remained relatively stable (Tubadji, 2012). In Figure 2 below, Greek unemployment rate by age is presented.

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Youth unemployment is one of the biggest threats to the future welfare of the young people in Greece. The rating of the youth unemployment in Greece varies from country to country. In 2015 its rating was about 55.3%. The announcement of the referendum forced young people in the country to contemplate other employment opportunities that exist beyond the domestic market. With that, it is rather interesting to note recent observation of Thomas Mroz that long-term unemployment at young age leads to slight decrease in wages (Mroz & Savage, 2006). In fact, several young people in Greece are left without work for years so that they lose their competiveness and attractiveness in view of the other employers (Singh, 2015). Following above statements about effects of the continuous youth unemployment in Greece, youth unemployment may cause increased criminality and social unrest in the country among young people. In addition, there is a risk that young people may emigrate to the other countries of the European Union. In particular, this statement is applied to females in Greece as they are eager to gain more employment opportunities. Therefore, in case of emigration of young females to other regions, state bodies of Greece should expect for sharp decrease in fertility rate (Bell & Blanchflower, 2015).

In order to cope with continuous crisis in the labour market, Greek authorities developed general policies as the Active Labour Market Policy. Recent job creation programs and training resulted in total failure of th estate bodies to cope with unemployment crisis among young people (Galata & Chrysakis, 2017). The Active Labour Market policies slightly decrease unemployment rating for limited period of time, while it is clear that the other measures should be adopted. Accordingly, state bodies of Greece introduce youth guarantee program in order to ensure access of young people to several employment opportunities in the country (Apostolidou, 2015). Some experts believe that resolution of the employment crisis in Greece requires international assistance and discussion with relevant authorities in the other countries of the European Union. This implies that reek government still lacks direction to be followed in order to tackle youth unemployment crisis. Therefore, it is highly important to request assistance of the International Labour Organization so to develop long-term positive effects in the labour market of Greece (Yamaguchi, 2017). In conclusion, resolution of the problems with the costs of the labour services in the employment market should be solved with the stabilization of the financial system. In case Greek government manages to hold exchange rate of EURO at certain level, it is possible to expect for the improvement of the situation at the labour market of the country.

    References
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  • Bell, D., & Blanchflower, D. (2015). Youth unemployment in Greece: measuring the challenge. IZA Journal Of European Labor Studies, 4(1), 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/2193-9012-4-1
  • Galata, P., & Chrysakis, M. (2017). Active Labour Market Policies in Greece: Challenges and responses during the economic crisis. Κοινωνική Πολιτική, 6, 45. http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/sp.10880
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  • International Labor Organization. (2017). Labour market reforms in Greece. Ilo.org. Retrieved 9 November 2017, from http://www.ilo.org/europe/whatsnew/WCMS_557029/lang–en/index.htm
  • Mroz, T., & Savage, T. (2006). The Long-Term Effects of Youth Unemployment. Journal Of Human Resources, XLI(2), 259-293. http://dx.doi.org/10.3368/jhr.xli.2.259
  • Singh, A. (2015). Long-Term Effects of Unemployment for Greek Youth – JustJobs Network. JustJobs Network. Retrieved 9 November 2017, from http://justjobsnetwork.org/blog/long-term-effects-of-unemployment-for-greek-youth/
  • Trading Economics. (2017). Greece Youth Unemployment Rate | 1998-2017 | Data | Chart | Calendar. Tradingeconomics.com. Retrieved 9 November 2017, from https://tradingeconomics.com/greece/youth-unemployment-rate
  • Tsampra, M. (2017). Regional Patterns Of Employability In The Greek Labour Market. Asrdlf2017.com. Retrieved 9 November 2017, from http://asrdlf2017.com/asrdlf2017_com/envoitextefinal/auteur/textedef/260.pdf
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