Η ευνοιοκρατία, η κομματικοποίηση, η λιτότητα και η ανεργία διώχνουν όλο και περισσότερους νέους Έλληνες από την χώρα, αναφέρει εκτενές ρεπορτάζ των New York Times από την Αθήνα.
Στο ρεπορτάζ, που κοσμεί την πρώτη σελίδα της σημερινής International Herald Tribune, μιλούν νέοι άνθρωποι που εκφράζουν την απογοήτευση τους για την πορεία της χώρας και την έλλειψη ευκαιριών για καρριέρα.
"Συνειδητοποίησα ότι το σύστημα επίμονα υποστηρίζει αυτούς που έχουν τις διασυνδέσεις και όχι αυτούς που έχουν ταλέντο", είπε ο 26χρονος Αλέξανδρος Κεντικελένης που απογοητευμένος από την Ελλάδα επιστρέφει στη Βρετανία όπου σπούδασε πολιτικές επιστήμες.
H εφημερίδα μεταφέρει τα αποτελέσματα δημοσκόπησης της ΚΑΠΑ Research που δημοσιεύθηκε πρόσφατα στο ΒΗΜΑ σύμφωνα με την οποία 7 στους 10 νέους θέλουν να δουλέψουν στο εξωτερικό. Τέσσερις στους 10 προσπαθούν ενεργά είτε να βρουν δουλειά, είτε να σπουδάσουν στο εξωτερικό.
Το ρεπορτάζ σημειώνει ότι η ανεργία μεταξύ των νέων ηλικίας 15- έως 24 ετών ήταν 29,8% τον Ιούνιο. Ο μέσος όρος στην ΕΕ είναι περίπου 20%.
Στις δεκαετίες του ΄50 και '60 χιλιάδες Έλληνες εγκατέλειψαν την χώρα για μια καλύτερη ζωή στην Αμερική, Αυστραλία και στην Ευρώπη. Τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες οι υψηλοί ρυθμοί οικονομικής ανάπτυξης, ιδιαίτερα μετά την ένταξη στην ΕΕ, οδήγησαν πολλούς στον δρόμο της επιστροφής.
Όμως, "το πάρτι δεν κράτησε πολύ", σημειώνει χαρακτηριστικά το ρεπορτάζ αναφερόμενο στην κρίση και τον κίνδυνο χρεοκοπίας.
"Σήμερα οι νέοι που φεύγουν από την Ελλάδα δεν πηγαίνουν στην Αστόρια να πλένουν πιάτα", υπογραμμίζει ο καθηγητής Γιώργος Παγουλάτος. "Είναι πτυχιούχοι στην Νέα Υόρκη που επιλέγουν να ζήσουν και να εργασθούν εκεί".
Eirini Vourloumis for the International Herald Tribune
Alexander Kentikelenis wanted to work in Greek politics, but he is studying in England instead.
By NIKI KITSANTONIS
Published: September 14, 2010
ATHENS — In two weeks, Alexandra Mallosi, 29, will be packing her bags and leaving the quiet Athens suburb of Holargos for Abu Dhabi to start a job as a hotel sales manager.
Alexandra Mallosi is moving to Abu Dhabi to start a job as a hotel sales manager as a deepening recession chokes the job market.
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It was not a tough decision. Her experience in the Greek hotel industry had left her frustrated.
“In other countries, young people are encouraged,” Ms. Mallosi said. “In Greece, they are held back.”
Like Ms. Mallosi, an increasing number of young college graduates are leaving Greece as a deepening recession chokes a job market already crippled by an entrenched
culture of cronyism. And the outlook for a turnaround is not good. The national debt, estimated at 300 billion euros (nearly $400 billion), is larger than Greece’s gross domestic product, suggesting that years of austerity budgets lie ahead. On top of that, a string of political corruption scandals has left many young Greeks disillusioned about the future.
According to a survey published last month, 7 out of 10 Greek college graduates want to work abroad. Four in 10 are actively seeking jobs abroad or are pursuing further education to gain a foothold in the foreign job market. The survey, conducted by the polling firm Kapa Research for To Vima, a center-left newspaper, questioned 5,442 Greeks from the ages of 22 to 35.
Some, like Ms. Mallosi, are leaving because they feel doors are closing in Greece. For many looking for their first job after college, those doors never opened.
The latest official figures show that unemployment among 15- to 24-year-olds was 29.8 percent in June, compared with about 20 percent across the European Union. The Greek figure was an improvement from 32.5 percent in May as summer jobs kicked in but still well above the 22.9 percent in the month a year earlier.
For Greeks age 25 to 34, the figure was 16.2 percent in June, up from 11.8 percent in 2009. Overall unemployment was 11.6 percent, up from 8.6 percent.
Yannis Gio, 22, moved to London in July after interviews with two architectural firms in Greece fell through. “I couldn’t find a job because I didn’t have any inside connections,” he said.
Mr. Gio is awaiting responses from three firms he interviewed with in London and has lined up more interviews for positions there as well as in Paris and Beijing.
Jason Kezios, who is 24 and went to school with Mr. Gio, went to London in April and has been working for an advertising firm for the last four months. “I earn twice as much as I would in Greece and the prospects are much better,” Mr. Kezios said.
Graduates with work experience like Alexis Cohen, 35, are leaving, too. His 10-year career as a sound engineer has foundered in recent months because the singers and musicians who are his clients are staging fewer concerts. He has set up job interviews in California and intends to move there with his girlfriend next month.
“If you want to have a decent life, you can’t do it here,” he said. “It’s always been difficult. Now it’s nearly impossible.”
In the 1950s and 1960s, thousands of people left Greece to seek a better life in the United States, Australia or elsewhere in Europe. During the booming 1980s and 1990s, after Greece joined the European Union, many returned to a thriving economy. The pride generated by the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 spurred thousands more Greeks to come home.
But, as in Ireland, the party did not last. In 2008, the first signs of a recession appeared. Earlier this year, the debt crisis required Greece to seek 110 billion euros in loan guarantees from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, which demanded an array of budget cuts in return.
Now it seems the country is on the verge of a new wave of emigration, with young college graduates at the forefront.
“Today the people leaving Greece are not going to wash dishes in Astoria,” said George Pagoulatos, an associate professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business . “They are graduate students in New York choosing to stay and work there.”
There could be a “brain drain” if talented young people see few prospects in Greece, he said. But he also expressed doubts about their prospects in other Western countries where unemployment is a problem as well.
Another reason for the wave of emigration, he said, is a growing public discontent after the corruption scandals in 2008 that rocked the previous conservative government
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