{
  "title": "Unemployment in Greece: A Survey of the Issues",
  "publication": "IMF Working Papers, August 1, 1996",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/unemployment-in-greece-a-survey-of-the-issues-2062",
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  "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.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Summary",
      "content": "- The Greek unemployment rate rose from 2 percent in the 1960s to 9-10 percent in the 1990s.\n- Factors cited for the rise in unemployment:\n  - increase in female participation rates\n  - slowdown in growth\n  - restructuring of production\n  - increased mismatch between jobs and job seekers\n- The paper identifies the most crucial factor as the persistence of real wage aspirations.\n- The authors develop and test a model attributing persistent unemployment to:\n  - rapid expansion in the number of easy, life-time government jobs\n  - increase in the public/private wage differential during the 1980s"
    },
    {
      "heading": "Key Findings and Evidence",
      "content": "- Historical unemployment trajectory:\n  - 2 percent in the 1960s\n  - 9-10 percent in the 1990s\n- Structural and labor-market contributors include:\n  - female labor force participation increases\n  - sectoral restructuring of production\n  - mismatch between labor demand and supply\n- Behavioral and institutional contributors emphasized:\n  - persistence of real wage aspirations\n  - labor market incentives from government employment and wage differentials"
    },
    {
      "heading": "Model and Analytical Approach",
      "content": "- The paper develops and tests a model linking unemployment persistence to:\n  - expansion of easy, life-time government jobs\n  - widening public/private wage differential in the 1980s\n- Conceptual mechanisms referenced in keywords and subject areas:\n  - demand shock, efficiency wage, employment equations\n  - inflation-unemployment curve / Phillips curve / inflation-unemployment locus\n  - unemployment-vacancy relationship, involuntary unemployment\n  - severance pay implications, private sector vs public sector dynamics"
    },
    {
      "heading": "Policy-Relevant Implications (as implied by analysis)",
      "content": "- Reducing unemployment persistence may require addressing:\n  - incentives created by easy, life-time government jobs\n  - the public/private wage differential that widened during the 1980s\n  - mismatches between job seekers and available jobs through retraining or reallocation policies\n  - growth slowdowns that limit labor demand\n- Labor force participation dynamics, notably female participation increases, should be considered in policy design\n\n---\n\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/unemployment-in-greece-a-survey-of-the-issues-2062"
    }
  ],
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    "Authors: Dimitri G Demekas, Zenon Kontolemis",
    "Published: August 1, 1996",
    "Series: IMF Working Papers",
    "The Greek unemployment rate rose from 2 percent in the 1960s to 9-10 percent in the 1990s.",
    "Factors cited for the rise in unemployment:",
    "The paper identifies the most crucial factor as the persistence of real wage aspirations.",
    "The authors develop and test a model attributing persistent unemployment to:",
    "Historical unemployment trajectory:",
    "Structural and labor-market contributors include:",
    "Behavioral and institutional contributors emphasized:",
    "The paper develops and tests a model linking unemployment persistence to:",
    "Conceptual mechanisms referenced in keywords and subject areas:",
    "Reducing unemployment persistence may require addressing:",
    "Labor force participation dynamics, notably female participation increases, should be considered in policy design"
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