Author Topic: Struggling to get by  (Read 3732 times)

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Offline Maik

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Struggling to get by
« on: Wednesday, 26 November, 2014 @ 16:10:34 »
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Greeks struggle to get by despite economic 'recovery'

Greece's economy has begun outpacing the rest of the eurozone. Even so, with one in four Greeks unemployed, many find the news that the economy is recovering laughable.

The unemployment rate dropped, but it is still at more than 25 percent, which translates into nearly 1.3 million unemployed Greeks.

More than 70 percent of those Greeks have been out of work for more than a year. The number of Greeks at risk of poverty has more than doubled in the last five years - from about 20 percent in 2008 to 44 percent in 2013, according to a report by the International Labor Organization.

There's also impatience with the fragile governing coalition that has run Greece since two nail-biting elections in 2012. Most Greeks believe that that its political class continues to squeeze pensioners, working families and even the unemployed for cash to pay creditors, while letting the well-connected and wealthy off the hook.
http://www.dw.de/greeks-struggle-to-get-by-despite-economic-recovery/a-18089186

Offline Maik

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Re: Struggling to get by
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday, 26 November, 2014 @ 22:20:42 »
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At 25 years old, Dimitris Mpitinis has just finished a four-year undergraduate degree and a two-year master's, as well as his nine-month compulsory military service.

"I have done a few internships, but with no work experience, no one will hire me. I could go on a government-subsidized program. But this means I would be working full-time for 450 euros a month, most probably in a different city, which would leave me with no money to pay for rent and other expenses."

Thodoris Kritikos, a 41 year-old journalist, is unemployed for the second time in four years. "In 2010 I was asked by my employer, a Greek newspaper, to sign for a thirty percent decrease in my salary. I refused and I lost my job. After two years of being unemployed, I found a similar job with more responsibility but even less money. Soon they stopped paying us, until business picked up again, they said."
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102219393