Youth unemployment levels in Greece remain one of the highest in the world. According to one source, between 2000 and 2008, youth inactivity increased from 63 percent to 72 percent. ^[1] A different source using the harmonized definition of unemployment lists the unemployment rate of youth up to 24 years of age as 24.2% in Greece during 2009. ^[2] To put this into perspective, the EU-27 average at the time was 18.3%. ^[2] Youth unemployment rose to 40.1% in May 2011 and then again to about 55% in November 2012. ^[3]

In addition to youth unemployment (namely those up to 25 years of age), Greece also faced severe graduate unemployment of those 25–29 years of age. In 1998, Greece had the highest level of unemployment of higher education graduates in the 25-29 year old age group. This was due to a lack of demand for highly educated personnel at the time. ^[4] This trend of low employment among those with higher educational qualifications continues on today. As recently as 2009, "one in three higher education graduates, two in three secondary graduates, and one in three compulsory education graduates have not found some form of stable employment." ^[5] This lack of employment is thought to have contributed to the feelings of frustration among youth that eventually led to the 2008 Greek riots.

These high levels of unemployment are exacerbated by the failure of unions to attract young workers. GSEE's Young Workers Committee revealed in a 2008 presentation that almost two-thirds of young workers did not joined their workplace unions. ^[6] Although unions like GSEE and ADEDY actively promote wage increases through collective bargaining efforts and have contributed to obtaining higher wages for young workers, the wages of young workers remained much lower than almost all other countries in EU-15. ^[6]

It may be that remnant effects of the apartheid era has led to jobs centres being located farther away from typical homes of Black communities compared to white communities. This, lingering discrimination, and a unequal backgrounds are among the many reasons for the unequal distribution of unemployment among young whites and blacks. ^[7]

Many of the unemployed youth have never worked before. A proposed reason for this is that South Africa's social pension program is relatively generous compared to other middle-income countries. Some senior South Africans (mostly applicable to the white population) are paid almost twice the per capita income. This has led to many of the unemployed youth to survive off of their elders' support, thereby reducing incentives to look for employment. ^[7] In addition, the reservation wages of many young Africans are prohibitively high. Around 60% of males and 40% of females have reservation wages that are higher than they could expect from smaller sized firms. ^[8] Some overestimate their ability to obtain jobs from competitive, high-paying, larger sized firms and thus remain unemployed. The higher pay of larger firms, in addition to the costs of employment (such as transport or housing costs), make it almost unfeasible for some youth to accept lower paying jobs from smaller firms. Thus, many of the youth in South Africa choose to remain unemployed until they are able to find a job at a larger firm. ^[8] South African youth also face problems of education. Many exit the schooling system early. Others face a lack of skill recognition from employers, "even if they have qualifications in the fields that are considered to be in high demand." ^[9]

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