Athens
(AFP) - Greece, in the throes of soaring unemployment and a six-year recession,
faced a "prolonged social crisis" which could last another two
decades, the International Labour Organisation said in a report on Monday.
"Greece
faces a prolonged social crisis unless action is taken," the organisation
warned. Whilst the jobless rate is in slow decline, there are still over 1.2
million registered unemployed in Greece, or 25.9 percent of the workforce as
recorded in August, the height of the busy tourist season.
The Greek
government says the economy will finally exit recession this year, but the ILO
argues that even at a growth rate of 2.0 percent annually, recovery would still
take 13 years.
The number
of Greeks at risk of poverty has more than doubled in five years, rising from
above 20 percent in 2008 when the recession began to over 44 percent in 2013, the
organisation said.
One in four
jobs has been lost over this period, it said, calling for "urgent
measures" to support people and firms and set the country on a
"sustainable" recovery path.
Greece
should facilitate the expansion of sustainable enterprises, especially in
tourism and the agricultural sector, tackle undeclared work, cooperate with
firms to design skill programmes, and shift the tax base from basic consumption
to property.
A fiscal
overhaul supervised by Greece's creditors -- the European Commission, European
Central Bank and International Monetary Fund -- has concentrated on slashing
wages and benefits to improve competitiveness and boost economic growth.
"The
strategy so far, while it has helped restore public finances, has not achieved
the expected results in terms of a sustainable economic and employment
recovery," said ILO's research director Raymond Torres.
(Πηγή: au.news.yahoo.com)
