Are unemployed people registered with the State Employment Service (DYPA) who refuse to work lazy? Are these people who suddenly – not so suddenly – stopped putting work at the center of their existence and decided to limit consumption to a minimum in order to deliberately become unemployed? Or are Greeks, especially young ones, refusing to work under current working conditions and wages? What about the elderly unemployed? Do they have the same opportunities as young people, or is the DYPA phone no longer calling them?

Significant change in the attitudes of the unemployed about how they feel about work, and new priorities set mainly by the younger generation, and in some cases by their parents themselves, in terms of job satisfaction. “K” tries to describe today by talking to people who come into contact with him every day.trying to set them up with a prospective employer. These are DYPA labor consultants, employers and the unemployed, who even addressed by name to “K”, chose not to have their names published due to the nature of their work. These are the people who… match, match the needs of the business with the qualifications and skills of the unemployed registered in the DYPA registers. They look for “pairs” from the same districts, districts with the same postal code, or if this is not possible, from neighboring municipalities.

As they usually state, out of 50 attempts to find a job, the answer may be only 5 or a maximum of 10 unemployed. Today there are still programs – mostly for young people under 29 – to cover 20,000 jobs, at least 35,000-40,000 businesses have responded as these are 100% subsidized jobs that have not been “shut down” because that they did not find the total required 20,000 unemployed.

Experts divide the unemployed into roughly four main categories. The ones who don’t even return calls and emails. Those who respond and reject their proposals. Those who accept. And those who wait in vain for a job offer…

Missed calls

All employment consultants who spoke with “K” they acknowledged that a large percentage of the unemployed do not return DYPA calls and emails. If the phone is fixed, then it is almost impossible to find an unemployed person at home. Email communication is also difficult. In the case of cell phones, there are many unemployed people who do not answer unknown numbers, especially in recent years, as they may think that it is a collection agency, a bank, a mobile phone company, etc. to seek repayment of debts. The problem is exacerbated if the call is from a confidential number, which DYPA Employment Counselors usually avoid.

The support of the Greek family is a decisive factor in how young people perceive their priorities.

But even among those who answered, there is a large part of the unemployed who, without any reason, refuse even the first meeting with a representative of a company looking for a job that matches their qualifications. “Anyone who does not even agree to investigate what exactly is at stake clearly has no livelihood problems,” features in “K” an employment consultant who talks daily to dozens of unemployed people as well as employers. And how does he live? “Whether it’s with benefits like a guaranteed minimum income, or money from mom and dad’s pocket, or even money from undeclared – unsafe jobs.” Indeed, benefits such as Minimum Income Guarantee (formerly KEA), a rental surcharge, or a reduced household electricity bill are lost if the beneficiary increases their income through work.

And also the support of the Greek family, especially during the financial crisis and also after it, is a decisive factor in how young people perceive their priorities. It is characteristic that the majority of young people aged 18-35 still state “material assistance from parents or other relatives” as the first source of income, and “hired labor” as the second. And, of course, another pathogenesis, this time not of a sociological, but of an economic nature, the possibility of black unsecured work, is one of the main reasons for the unemployed to refuse work, most often unreasonably so as not to reveal the truth. They are mostly young people who do not realize or do not yet understand the importance of social security.

Those who try

Of course, there is also a significant part of the unemployed of all ages, but mostly these are people of the most productive age, from 30 to 54 years old, who make up 57% of all unemployed people registered in the DMZ registers. who agree to at least one first date.

These are unemployed people who know that even contact with market representatives, experience and a business opportunity to acquire their resumes will be useful for them. These are the unemployed with increased obligations, family, children, rent, which may be “current”, bills, etc.

In fact, some of them, not many, of course, due to their increased need for the documents they sign at the DYPA, declare that they are ready to work in positions requiring lower qualifications than their own. Even more work-minded are the elderly unemployed who want to fill out the necessary stamps to retire.

Those who wait in vain…

The elderly unemployed, despite being available 24/7, rarely receive phone calls as companies hardly look for workers over 55. After all, for these cases, DYPA creates programs for the admission of people aged 55-64 years to state bodies and local governments, and there are also additional programs in order to then admit them to the private sector, in particular, to companies that appreciate the experience as well as the training received in the previous program.

Process obsolescence, the role of parents and expectations

Some unemployed refuse vacancies, having previously listened to employment consultants, refusing them under specific pretexts. Problem, as all interlocutors “K” agree, is multifactorial, with economic as well as sociological aspects. Rapid global changes in the world of work, along with the impact of the unprecedented health crisis caused by the coronavirus, are also playing a leading role. In particular, the “tribes” of the unemployed who refuse jobs that correspond to their knowledge, qualifications and skills, with the exception of the cases analyzed above, are:

1. The unemployed, mostly young people with advanced degrees, who discredit the process, nullify in their conscience and practice DYPA’s ability to reach out to employers whose needs relate to their qualifications.

2. Young people living with parents who, in fact, make higher demands on their children, are the first to turn down the position offered by the employment consultant.

3. Young people with significant digital skills, also influenced by the global trend, are clearly opting for flexible work patterns and refusing to work with contract hours from the very beginning.

4. Unemployed who, especially after a two-year health crisis, decide to continue their studies by obtaining a master’s degree or studying in a private or public IEC.

After a two-year health crisis, several unemployed people decided to continue their studies at graduate school or at IEC.

5. The unemployed, mostly young people and women who are more looking to develop their skills, are more looking for a training program than a job.

6. Men and women, mostly young, who turned to a field other than the one they specialized in, mainly after the coronavirus crisis, after they saw opportunities for more profit. In fact, these are mostly positions with high insecure work. Characteristically, DYPA does not find workers in such specialties as delivery, online store workers, hairdressers and manicure and pedicure masters.

7. The unemployed, mostly women, but also young people who do not have their own transport and find it difficult to travel by public transport, especially if the job offered to them is far from home. Especially in major urban centres, with Athens at its peak, the problem is severe as a traffic problem can keep them 2-2.5 hours longer from home.

8. Unemployed people with high qualifications and skills who believe that they can find a better job than the one offered by DYPA, on their own, through the market and through their acquaintances. Some of them are now looking for self-employment opportunities, cashing in on investments made in their studies. For this reason, there is a lack of unemployed who want to work with specialized knowledge and high qualifications, for example, in the IT field.

9. The unemployed who have some qualifications but have not developed, mainly because they have been out of the labor market for a long time. They do not feel capable of meeting the ever-growing and evolving business needs, especially in technology and science.

10. The unemployed, who are rumored to give up their business or specialty, believing that wages will be very low and working conditions will be poor. After all, the image of an internal market with a salary of 850 euros, stamped labor relations and poor working conditions is not uncommon, and in sectors with the highest demand.

Even a few companies acting irrationally, using bad practices and circumventing labor laws, inevitably characterize their entire industry, causing the unemployed to refuse even the first contact with an employer in the industry. Moreover, in a competitive environment, there are many such companies …

eleven. The unemployed, mostly young people, disappointed with the situation on the domestic labor market or hoping for the best, look for work only abroad. Although the massive wave of young people fleeing abroad seen in previous years has been halted, the phenomenon of brain drain has not disappeared.

12. Unemployed, mostly long-term, i.e. more than 12 months who have become disillusioned with the situation and are no longer looking for work, believing that nothing will change.

13. Added to this is a new group of unemployed who, after the recent health crisis, feel cut off not only from work but also from society, facing serious psychological problems.

14. The unemployed, mostly young people, but not only, who are looking for a new balance between work and personal life. In practice, they found that their work was not paid satisfactorily. They may be in prestigious occupations and still be unable to buy or rent their own home, still do everything “right” and do not have the standard of living of their parents at their age.