Crisis, Recovery, and the Restructuring of Youth Employment in Greece, 2000–2024

This study examines the transformation of youth employment in Greece between 2000 and 2024, encompassing the pre-crisis period, the global financial and sovereign-debt crises, the economic adjustment programmes, the subsequent recovery, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Using harmonised Eurostat data for people aged 15–29, it analyses youth unemployment, the share of unemployed young people without work for at least twelve months, the proportion neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET), temporary employment, and part-time employment. The analysis traces changes across historically defined periods, identifies approximate changes in the direction of annual trends, and compares Greece’s trajectory with developments in other European Union countries. Principal component analysis (PCA), a statistical technique that summarises variation across related indicators, provides a supplementary measure of labour-market exclusion. Youth unemployment and the NEET rate peaked in 2013, whereas the long-term-unemployed share peaked in 2014, revealing delayed accumulation of labour-market exclusion. By 2024, youth unemployment had declined substantially, but the unemployment rate, long-term-unemployed share, and part-time-employment rate remained above their respective 2008 values. The study distinguishes exclusion from employment from the contractual and working-time arrangements of those in work. The supplementary index summarises unemployment, prolonged unemployment, and NEET status; it does not measure every aspect of insecure employment. Comparative estimates indicate substantial Greek divergence during the sovereign-debt crisis and only partial convergence thereafter. The crisis is therefore interpreted as an acceleration and restructuring of pre-existing youth labour-market vulnerabilities rather than a temporary interruption followed by complete restoration.