IMF Working Papers

Unemployment in Greece: A Survey of the Issues

By Dimitri G Demekas, Zenon Kontolemis

August 1, 1996

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Dimitri G Demekas, and Zenon Kontolemis. Unemployment in Greece: A Survey of the Issues, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 1996) accessed September 20, 2024
Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

The Greek unemployment rate rose from 2 percent in the 1960s to 9-10 percent in the 1990s. This reflected the increase in female participation rates, the slowdown in growth, the restructuring of production, and the increased mismatch between jobs and job seekers. But the most crucial factor was the persistence of real wage aspirations. The paper develops and tests a model that attributes this to the rapid expansion in the number of easy, life-time government jobs and the increase in the public/private wage differential during the 1980s.

Subject: Employment, Labor, Labor force, Labor markets, Unemployment, Wages

Keywords: Demand shock, Efficiency wage, Employment, Equation equivalent, Europe, Inflation-unemployment curve, Inflation-unemployment locus, Involuntary unemployment, Labor force, Labor markets, Labour force, Northern Europe, Phillips curve, Private sector, Severance pay, Southern Europe, Unemployment, Unemployment in Greece, Unemployment persistence, Unemployment rate, Unemployment-vacancy relationship, Wages, WP

Publication Details

  • Pages:

    72

  • Volume:

    ---

  • DOI:

    ---

  • Issue:

    ---

  • Series:

    Working Paper No. 1996/091

  • Stock No:

    WPIEA0911996

  • ISBN:

    9781451951714

  • ISSN:

    1018-5941