During the last six years many media of the west world have constructed the myth of the "Lazy Greek guy" who likes working as little as he can and spending the biggest part of his day relaxing at a café. However, the reality is very different and very frustrating, especially for the new generation.
That's because in the year 2016, there are hardly any opportunities for creation and development in Greece, a fact being confirmed by the last ranking of the Eurostat, according to which, unemployment of youngsters reaches a percentage of 49.5 percent.
Nevertheless, in the last years I often hear people complaining that the strongest Greek "brains" choose to live abroad. The whole matter has been many times mentioned at the social media, providing thus people of any age with the chance to express their views on this particular, "hot" matter.
Some of them justify the choice of Greek youngsters to abandon Greece, given the -- from many aspects humiliating -- working conditions applying in the country, whereas some others believe that the new generation has to resist and help the country recover.
In this article, I am going to present some of the main reasons that make young people leave their home, their family and their friends, seeking something which in other countries is taken for granted: Development opportunities.
A young person working in Greece has to deal with the violation of his labor rights, as also the rudeness -- and very often the arrogance -- of his employers who, taking advantage of the financial crisis, exploit the employees till they exhaust their tolerance.
Almost every day I meet people, who were making dreams and ambitions for a career based on their domain until recently, and now, either they are unemployed or they work as secretaries or waiters at a café. On the contrary, university graduates in any other Western country receive the necessary knowledge from their educational institution and fulfill the prerequisites for a career which, apart from giving them development opportunities, allows them also to live with dignity.
However, people who have creativity and love for their work, follow their favorite profession but... they also have to pay a price for this! Being paid with a poor salary which usually does not exceed the sum of 500€ per month, some of them have to work seven days a week, without taking days off and in many cases, without being insured. This practice results in both physical and psychological exhaustion, as also in a gradual reduction of their interest towards their job.
What most Greek employers do not understand, or don't want to understand is the fact that when an employee is not satisfied with his working conditions and the salary, the employer's product cannot be competitive, as there is no motivation at all. As a consequence, instead of having young people with visions, willingness and innovative ideas, we deal with sullen and troubled faces, which are asked to confront particularly stressful situations.
A phrase that I hear very often when I find myself in the company of young people is: "we have not been paid for three months, but nowadays this happens everywhere in Greece." This shows that something so obvious like the employee's payment is gradually being turned into a necessity and the refusal to pay the employee's salary, into normality. I wonder therefore, how is it ever possible for a young, ambitious person with dreams, who lives in such a sick environment, to "unfold" its creativity and eventually, to fulfill his dreams. When the employer doesn't pay up the salaries, using the financial crisis as an excuse, the young people are forced to survive through the assistance of their pensioner parents. At the same time therefore, that in the most western countries a thirty-year old individual has embarked on a career of its own, thirty-years-olds in Greece are literally begging for their wages, live in their parents' home and are highly dependent from their pension -- which undergoes consecutive cuts.
For example, when the minimum salary for a university graduate who is over 25 years old is 425, 00 € and the rent for a decent apartment reaches the sum of 200€, you can realize that the potential of being independent and creating a family looks distant. Such a situation results inevitably into anxiety and a sense of aversion towards work.
Consequently, migration seems to be the only solution. Of course I do not suggest that in a foreign country the situation is easier for the immigrants. But I show comprehension to all those people who do not choose to conform to the particularly unpleasant greek reality and decide to risk it all, even if the -financial or non-financial- cost is very expensive. So, my own answer to all those who complain that "the most intelligent Greek brains abandon Greece" is that Greece itself is more and more pushing her "children" towards the solution of migration. Unfortunately.