Productivity in Greece still stuck at the levels of 2000

With its accession to the Economic and Monetary Union – today’s eurozone – successful 2001, Greece recovered itself faced with a historical accidental for inexpensive borrowing, organization stability and entree to adjacent much European capital. It was an accidental for productive transformation.

Twenty-five years later, the appraisal connected the astir important indicator for the well-being of an system and its workers, that of productivity, is disappointing. Instead of Greece and its businesses systematically investing successful competitiveness, innovation and concern reconstruction, successful sectors of precocious added value, and payment from the opportunity, they somehow managed to turn a ample portion of those EU funds into depletion and higher numbers of imports, while simultaneously expanding the state. The effect was an system that appeared to beryllium prosperous, but without producing corresponding wealth.

Labor productivity, without immoderate work connected the portion of the workers, is not lone debased but, arsenic the study of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) carried retired connected behalf of the union of Greek industrialists showed, it has remained astatine the levels of 2000. Greece adopted the hard currency of the eurozone without acquiring the productive basal this adoption required, arsenic the country’s businesses and politicians chose the way of inaction and casual profits successful sectors with debased added value.

Greece produces little than fractional of what the remainder of Europe produces connected average. It shows an betterment successful caller years successful terms of gross added value per capita, owed to the summation successful employment, aft the “armies” of unemployed that had been created successful the erstwhile decennary during the indebtedness crisis. But adjacent this betterment successful the related indicator is moving out, on with the available labour force, unless 1 believes that Greece will find ways to propulsion women who are presently raising children oregon are liable for their parents, into the labour marketplace oregon that the galore thousands who near during the economical situation will instrumentality en masse.

And adjacent if this happens, the occupation will not beryllium solved unless we spot a important and targeted alteration successful the way the state views entrepreneurship, with a parallel summation successful investments successful technological modernization and an summation successful size. At the moment, lone 657 businesses person implicit 250 employees successful Greece.

Greek politicians similar to talk astir the request to summation wages. Most neither understand nor want to understand that there tin beryllium nary substantial and sustainable betterment successful wages without expanding productivity. And the fewer who understand the need, cannot understand what needs to change. That an full state should redirect its vigor and argumentation toward changes of each kinds, which will facilitate concern and the instauration of caller technologies. However, the top load of this alteration will person to autumn this clip connected entrepreneurs, who indispensable archetypal alteration themselves successful bid to alteration their businesses and the Greek economy.

Greece has 30% of its workforce trapped successful retail trade and catering services, where productivity does not transcend €25,000 per employee, while successful the manufacture assemblage it reaches €63,000 and successful the technology assemblage €60,000. So what needs to alteration is close earlier our eyes.