Youth walk away from Greece

As a result of the economic crisis in Greece, many changes appeared in our lives in economic, social and even in cultural terms. Migration is one of them. This issue represents a significant fundamental problem for Greece, and the results caused by this problem continues to affect the country's economy negatively.

Yunus Onbaşı | Journalist-Economist

Undoubtedly one of the most critical effects of economic crises is unemployment. In consequence of the economic shock which deteriorates the expectations about the future of the economy, the firms and householders reduce their spending. In this case, producers respond by declining the production, restricting the recruitment and firing the employees, in order to diminish the production costs. 

As it is known, the primary cause of the financial crisis in Greece is the state. By the time the public debt has increased more than the necessary, the sustainability of the debt has become difficult. This circumstance has required some measures and fiscal austerity policies to regulate the borrowing. Due to the decrease of government spending, the economy of Greece has shrunk, and this caused to increase the unemployment rate.

If we have to analyze some quantitative data, the unemployment rate in Greece is around 20%, while the youth unemployment rate is close to 40%.

In addition to these negativities, the negative expectations also constitute an obstacle to the growth in the economy, while it on top makes the unemployment problem indirectly chronic. As a result of this situation, unfortunately, the migration of youth is inevitable.

But there is a deadlock. In order to get a little bit out of the economic burden of this debt, it is necessary to reach a higher growth rate and sustainable development. A qualified workforce is naturally needed to achieve all of this. The productive workforce of  Greece which can generate the economic development for the country migrates to abroad. So how a county will develop without the skilled workforce and qualified labor? This issue is a real problem of Greece, and it is potential trouble with chronicity. Therefore, the government is morally obligated to address key issues that deeply affect our lives, develop possible solutions and adopt its economic policies accordingly.

With this downturn, only pensioners will stay in the country with Prime Minister, Tsipras! Another negative impact of the migration problem is the noticeable increase in the dependent population. What does happen in this case exactly? Look! When we eliminate the active population from the aggregate population in a country, we obtain the dependent population. Dependent population, which are usually retired, child and inoperable individuals, are in need of the care of the operable population. The fact that young people leave the country means that the dependent population in the country increases compared to the active population, which causes the state's task to be more difficult. For this instance, while the economy is shrinking, the tax revenue of the state is decreasing, however, due to the increase of the dependent population the burden of the budget rises as much as pensions, health expenditures, and social benefits.

The formula to overcome the economic crisis is certain; we need economic growth. Of course, this growth should be a growth not based on the expenditures of the government as the previous ones. It must be sustainable. For that, it is required a qualified workforce which can create ideas and generate innovation.