Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- one Labour market policies in the era of European pervasive austerity: a review
- two Structural reforms in Europe: a comparative overview
- three Income support policies and labour market reforms under austerity in Greece
- four The Italian labour market policy reforms and the economic crisis: coming towards the end of Italian exceptionalism?
- five French employment market policies: dualisation and destabilisation
- six The German exception: welfare protectionism instead of retrenchment
- seven The Netherlands and the crisis: from activation to ‘deficiency compensation’
- eight Dualising the Swedish model: insiders and outsiders and labour market policy reform in Sweden: an overview
- nine No longer ‘fit for purpose’? Consolidation and catch-up in Irish labour market policy
- ten Retrenchment, conditionality and flexibility – UK labour market policies in the era of austerity
- eleven Czechia: political experimentation or incremental reforms?
- twelve Slovakia: perpetual austerity and growing emphasis on activation
- thirteen Slovenian labour market policies under austerity: narrowing the gap between the well- and the less well-protected in the labour market?
- fourteen Conclusions
- Index
three - Income support policies and labour market reforms under austerity in Greece
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- one Labour market policies in the era of European pervasive austerity: a review
- two Structural reforms in Europe: a comparative overview
- three Income support policies and labour market reforms under austerity in Greece
- four The Italian labour market policy reforms and the economic crisis: coming towards the end of Italian exceptionalism?
- five French employment market policies: dualisation and destabilisation
- six The German exception: welfare protectionism instead of retrenchment
- seven The Netherlands and the crisis: from activation to ‘deficiency compensation’
- eight Dualising the Swedish model: insiders and outsiders and labour market policy reform in Sweden: an overview
- nine No longer ‘fit for purpose’? Consolidation and catch-up in Irish labour market policy
- ten Retrenchment, conditionality and flexibility – UK labour market policies in the era of austerity
- eleven Czechia: political experimentation or incremental reforms?
- twelve Slovakia: perpetual austerity and growing emphasis on activation
- thirteen Slovenian labour market policies under austerity: narrowing the gap between the well- and the less well-protected in the labour market?
- fourteen Conclusions
- Index
Summary
Introduction
One of the most surprising features of the social situation in Greece over the past few years has been the almost complete failure of the social safety net to cope with the fallout from the recession, the most severe in the euro area. Indeed, it would be no exaggeration to say that the ‘supply’ of social protection in the country fell just as the ‘demand’ – that is, the need – for it increased dramatically.
During 2007–13, the Greek economy contracted by 26.5% in real terms. The loss in output was far greater than in other Southern European economies (Portugal: –7.6%; Spain: –7.5%; and Italy: –8.7%; or Ireland: –7.0%) over the same period. To find another example of such a harsh and drawn-out recession in the peacetime economic history of advanced economies, one would have to go back to the US Great Depression (–30% of gross domestic product [GDP] during 1929–32).
The steep rise in joblessness is no doubt the most characteristic feature of the Great Recession in Greece. Before the crisis, in May 2008, unemployment had reached its lowest level for over a decade (6.7% of the labour force). Thereafter, it started to rise again, gathering pace as the recession deepened.
The unemployment rate peaked at 28.7% in November 2013, and remained as high as 21.4% in April 2017. The decrease in employment was greater than the increase in unemployment: during 2008–13, the number of employed workers declined by 1,064,000, while the number of unemployed ones rose by 942,000. The total employment rate stood at 52.0% in 2016, having fallen to as low as 48.8% in 2013. In 2008, it had been 61.4%.
Since the Greek crisis has been protracted as well as deep, it is hardly surprising that the stock of unemployed workers out of work for over 12 months has risen so much. The long-term unemployment rate peaked at 19.5% in 2014, and was still as high as 17.0% in 2016, relative to 3.7% in 2008.
Policy responses to increased unemployment in all countries and at all times are constrained by fiscal considerations. However, in Greece during the Great Recession, these constraints have been much tighter than is usually the case as the government has operated under conditions of extreme ‘austerity’.
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- Labour Market Policies in the Era of Pervasive AusterityA European Perspective, pp. 43 - 68Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2018
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