Another side of the story to Greece’s Ordeal

Greece’s debt crisis has been all over the news for several weeks now. Lately a bigger problem is emerging apart from their financial struggle. This is because several Greek workers are deciding to leave the country and go to other countries, such as Britain. This is ultimately going to compound the problems for Greece, as it will eventually lead to a brain drain. There are thousands of Greeks who are eyeing Britain and a number of other countries, as a better destination for their skills to be put to good use. There are thousands of workers looking for employment in teaching, IT and construction jobs.

This has been confirmed by several recruitment agencies in the UK, who are reporting that there has been a significant rise in the number of Greeks looking for work. In fact the online agency CV Library has reported that there has been twice the number of visits when compared to last year. According to statistics the job seekers between the ages of 25 and 34 who have been seeking information about the possibility to go working in Britain has increase by 58% since last year. As described by the head of sales at CV Library, Mike Powell, these numbers are simply phenomenal. He also explained that they were experiencing a rise of 26% week-on-week. As a result they are calculating that July will be seeing a 100% more visitors when compared to June.

As has been reported, the European Commission wants a bailout programme by the second half of next month. Then Greece has to honour a debt repayment of 3.4bn Euros to the European Central Bank. However, few are actually believing that this deadline is going to be met. This uncertainty is in turn leading several businesses and employees to consider moving to Britain.

A case in point, Alex Christodoulou, relocated his online shipping business from Greece about five months ago. He commented that it was a good decision for him, and he is meeting fellow Greeks who are making similar decisions daily. According to him, it was already a phenomenon to see a brain drain when people left the country, but had the intention of going back someday when things ameliorated. However, in this case, several people seem to be thinking about leaving once and for all.

Another case is what 23-year old Kostas Kostikou shared with us. As a part-time waiter in Wilmslow, Cheshire, he is managing to make as much as he earned while working as a skilled computer technician in Athens. He described how his salary was reduced by half overnight when he was in Greece, and that as a result he could not afford to live. According to this young Greek, the problems for Greece are going to compound because if the younger generation decide to do like he did, the country is going to lose out a great deal. There are only going to be older people left in Greece, and in his words, the country will eventually die. Greece needs its younger generation to help build a stronger economy. Sorting out its financial problems is thus only a part of Greece’s huge problem. If issues such as this are going to be ignored, Greece will remain a perpetual lame duck, dependant merely on hand outs.