Note that the analysis included in this report was mostly conducted before the unfolding of the current major fiscal crisis and before the Greek government announced what policies it was going to undertake to respond to the crisis.

Il faut noter que l’analyse présentée dans ce rapport a été réalisée avant la crise budgétaire actuelle et avant que le gouvernement grec n’annonce les mesures prévues pour y faire face.

Improving the performance of youth in the labour market is a crucial challenge in OECD countries. Population ageing is looming, but this is not a magic pill to solve young people’s problems. While smaller youth cohorts are likely to create more job opportunities for youth, it is crucial that young people possess the skills required in today’s and tomorrow’s labour market.

Before the onset of the current economic crisis, a decade of healthy economic growth in Greece brought about a significant improvement in the employment prospects of youth. However, much still remained to be done to bring the labour market performance of Greek youth in line with the OECD average, and the current global economic crisis has inverted the recent positive trends.

The quality of initial education is a key factor in facilitating the transition from education to employment and putting youth on a promising career track. The purpose of this chapter is to assess whether the current education system in Greece gives youth a good start in the labour market.

The current economic slowdown has brought the importance of labour demand conditions to youth labour market performance back to the fore. Across OECD countries, the youth employment rate is more sensitive to the business cycle than that of adults, making youth particularly vulnerable in the current economic environment. In addition, some structural issues related to labour demand persist in many countries. As new entrants to the labour market, youth are more likely to be affected by institutional arrangements that weaken labour demand.

In many OECD countries, the first steps on the labour market are characterised for youth by the experience, sometimes repeated, of unemployment interspersed with spells of inactivity. Thus, it is important that young people have sufficient incentives and means to return to work. For instance, jobless youth often lack the job-search and interview skills needed for a smooth return to work and, for them, good-quality guidance and support by the public employment services play a crucial role. The provision of these services should ideally follow a mutual-obligations principle by which youth must actively seek work in exchange for targeted actions to help them find a job.