Like thousands of promising young university-educated Greeks, Nefeli Varhaliti has abandoned all hope of a future in her home country. So she leaves.
Protesters chanted slogans during a rally outside the Greek Parliament during a debate ahead of a confidence vote in Athens in 2014.
Alkis Konstantinidis | Reuters
The 22-year-old, now an exchange student studying counterterrorism at Mercy College in New York, carefully planned her own personal plan. “Grexit” since entering the American College of Greece in Athens in 2012. She first completed internships in Istanbul and Berlin to gain professional experience. She then applied for a university scholarship so she could study in the United States.
Her long-term goal: to find a job anywhere in the world where she can use her skills. It won’t be in Greece.
“I never want to go back there again Greece“, admits Nefeli. “There is no opportunity. The unemployment rate for job seekers under 24 is 50 percent. »
Nefeli’s story is a common one. It lifts the curtain on the real Greek tragedy neglected by many traditional economists: the brain drain, or flight of local talent. A wave of people with bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees. degrees – in fields ranging from computer science to economics to engineering to medicine – plant stakes abroad and go away. Result: a bankruptcy of the country’s intellectual heritage.
Learn moreWorried depositors rush to withdraw money from Greek banks
This trend could have even more dire consequences for Greece’s economic future than its 245 billion euro ($270 billion) debt burden, which plunged it into seven years of depression and wiped out 25.9 % of GDP.
The statistics tell the story. According to Lois Labrianidis, an economic geographer who studies migration at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, between 160,000 and 180,000 university graduates have left Greece since the crisis hit. In his book “Investing in Leaving: The Greek Case of International Migration of Professionals in the Globalization Era,” he points out that half of these migrants have doctorates.
Endeavor Greece, an international group that supports entrepreneurship, has even higher estimates. In his report “Creating jobs for young people in Greece”, he puts the number of people at 200,000 since the start of the crisis five years ago.
According to Endeavor Greece study, to date, around 71 percent of Greek migrants have left for EU countries. The remaining 29 percent went to Australia, Canada, the United States, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Some countries also seem to absorb certain types of professionals. For example, finance graduates went mainly to the United Kingdom, medical graduates to Germany, computer science graduates to the United States, and engineers to the Middle East.
Emigration figures were highest in 2013, tripling compared to the period before the crisis, the study reveals. But the study’s most worrying statistic shows that the trend is not going away: a staggering 46 percent of Greeks living in the country are considering moving.
This is not surprising, given that almost a million jobs have been lost in Greece over the past six years, the analysis by the Hellenic Statistics Authority and Endeavor reported. Many of them worked in industries fueled by the consumer bubble of the past. About two-thirds worked in construction, non-food manufacturing, and retail and wholesale trade. And it is worth emphasizing once again: these 1 million jobs we are in a country which has only 11 million people.
The phenomenon has sparked a backlash among other European countries, some of which have become more cautious about immigration policy. In the United Kingdomfor example, Prime Minister David Cameron and his conservative party are trying to gain EU support for drastic restrictions on migration and worker mobility within the EU. Under his plan, migrants would have to wait four years to receive certain benefits. They would be fired after six months if they could not find work. Although his proposals would require changes to the treaties governing the European Union, the rhetoric puts the issue in the spotlight.
“These spirits cannot be restrained”
“The brain drain has huge implications for Greece,” according to Labrianidis of the University of Macedonia.
As he explained, the percentage of Greeks with a university degree is high. According to Eurostat, 37.5 percent of Greeks aged 25 to 34 have completed higher education. The most popular degrees are engineering, manufacturing, construction, science, mathematics, computer science, business law and architecture.
“Unfortunately, these minds cannot be retained, as the economy continues to collapse and there is no one left to create high value-added products or services,” he said, adding: “It’s a vicious circle”.
At a time when the European Union wants Greece to try to recover and restructure its economy, the brains needed for this transformation are disappearing.
Learn moreEurozone approves extension of Greece’s bailout plan
“A lot of the impetus is psychological,” said Alexis Pantazis, 38, co-founder of Hellas Direct, an Athens-based online auto insurance provider that recently raised capital from Third Point Hellenic Recovery Fund, whose main investors include private companies. equities veteran Jon Moulton.
The former Goldman Sachs banker should know that. Pantazis left Cyprus to study and work abroad London for 15 years, then returned to Greece in 2009 after seeing an opportunity to disrupt the $2.6 billion auto insurance market. Since the company launched, it has raised €17 million ($19.3 million) in equity capital. “Most people are like, ‘To hell with that. I’m not going to sit here every day worrying about my future,'” he said.
This uncertainty blocks people from many walks of life. “There is a feeling of paralysis, and it has gotten worse since the December elections,” said Haris Makryniotis, managing director of Endeavor Greece.
As he explained, everyone is waiting to see how the four-month extension of the new EU bailout plan approved Tuesday will disappear, and whether Greece will bail out the euro. This approval gives the country time to repay its international creditors.
The impact on daily life can be felt by everyone. As he pointed out, banks are not lending, but rather suspending their approvals. This means that if you are running a business, no debt financing is available for working capital at present. And if you’re an entrepreneur looking for start-up capital, investors don’t untie your purse strings. Instead, they are waiting to see what happens to the euro in Greece, since any changes will affect valuations.
It is the uncertainty caused by a confluence of factors that places the country at the tipping point. These include how the new Syriza government, led by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, will work to boost foreign investment in local businesses, reform the tax code and licensing requirements. exploitation, promote entrepreneurship and combat high unemployment, government corruption and bureaucracy.
Learn moreCan Greece’s rebel leader save the nation from default?
“For things to change, people need to see a future of change,” said Varhaliti, the Mercy College exchange student.
If this were to happen, there could be a return movement among Greek expatriates. Manolis Pratsinakis, Ph.D., a Greek who has worked in the social sciences department at the University of Amsterdam for nine years, still hopes to one day return to his native country. “Since I left in 2006, I have been waiting for things to improve in Greece so that I can return. In the meantime, it is reasonable to stay in the Netherlands.”
It remains to be seen whether Pratsinakis’ dream will come true. Until Greece adopts structural reforms – such as reducing its high social security contributions and investing in vocational training – the exodus of talented young Greeks will continue.
“Such a radical change cannot happen in a year or two,” Labrianidis said. “It’s a very long process.”