ATHENS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- One young person has left Greece for every two jobs lost in the country during the financial crisis, but the prospect of an economic and political shift in the country appears to be stemming that flow, some local expert noted on Thursday.
From the start of Greece's recession in 2008 and up to 2016, a net 854,106 jobs were lost, or 23 percent of the labor market, a recent research by the Athen-based think tank diaNEOsis showed. The average salary also dropped 21.8 percent in the same period.
This has contributed to the so-called brain drain, which was the departure of 427,000 Greeks who went abroad in search for job opportunities, mostly young, unmarried and with a high education level, the diaNEOsis survey showed as explained by research analyst Fay Makantasi on Thursday.
"These new migrants accounted for an economic output of 50 billion euros (56.5 billion U.S. dollars) in total over that period, and paid taxes of 12.5 billion euros in the countries hosting them, while the Greek state had invested 8 billion euros for their education," said Makantasi, addressing a conference in Athens.
The research has also found that three out of four young people would leave Greece to work abroad if they had the chance, but Makantasi explained to Xinhua that three main factors have contained the brain drain phenomenon:"the romantic view of staying in the country to help it, the family commitments to parents and children, and the fear of the unknown."
"That departure flow now appears to be stemming, analysts have found of recent," adds Makantasi, citing two main reasons for that: "Those who were able to leave the country have already left, and the prospect of a change in the Greek economy after next month's general election, with the hope of a robust growth, has people think twice before choosing to go abroad," she said.
Greece emerged from three bailout programs last August, but has not yet managed to record an economic rebound above 2 percent year-on-year, posting a 1.3 percent annual growth rate in the first quarter of 2019. (1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollars)
