The
destructive impact of the neoliberal dictatorship
The
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
released new shocking data for Greece confirming one more time
Troika's destructive neoliberal policies. Key points:
"Total
household income in Greece dropped by 1/3 between 2007 and 2012, with
average losses of some 4400 euros per person. This is the biggest
fall in the OECD and four times as big as the loss recorded in the
average Eurozone country."
"Between
2008 and 2013, unemployment swelled at a rate of 3800 per week and
60% of the 1.4 million jobseekers are long-term unemployed."
"Since
2007/8, total spending on social protection and health fell by some
18% in real terms, compared to a 14% real-term increase in the
average OECD country."
"After
more than five years of severe economic decline, Greece remains one
of only two EU countries without a nationwide minimum-income benefit
(the other one is Italy)."
"...
employment plunged by almost 1 million (or 20%) since 2008 and
unemployment remains high. At the same time, falling wages have
compounded household income losses. The drop in real wages was the
largest in the OECD, but the resulting reduction in labour costs has
so far not reversed the 5-year-long decline in employment levels."
"The
number of “jobless” families has nearly doubled since 2012 as
many as 1 in 5 Greek working-age adults now live in a household where
nobody works."
"A
range of indicators point to households’ growing difficulties in
meeting basic needs. The share of people saying that they cannot
afford food has doubled*, putting this subjective measure of economic
distress at a higher level than in some emerging economies with much
lower per-capita income, such as China or Brazil."
"Emigration
to other OECD countries has doubled too. Young people in particular
have been emigrating in increasing numbers, reducing potential future
economic growth and further accelerating population ageing."
*
Specifically, in 2006/2007 the percentage of people in Greece who
answered "Yes" to the question "Have there been times
in the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to buy food
that you or your family needed?" was 8.9%, while in 2011/12 the
corresponding percentage doubled, reaching 17.9%. It is worth to
notice that the corresponding percentage for US in 2011/12 reached
21.1%, thus an increase of nearly 1.6 times relative to the 2006/2007
period (13.4%).
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