When Konstantinos Tsanis got his PhD in economics in 2011 at the height of Greece’s debt crisis, his chances of a well-paying job at home were pretty slim.
Just like hundreds of thousands of young Greeks moved abroad.
Some 600,000 — mostly well-educated — left the country between 2010 and 2021, according to the country’s finance ministry, which now wants to lure them back with tax breaks.
However, even though Greece is actively trying to reverse the trend, data shows that young people are still leaving, albeit at a reduced rate.
Greece is no stranger to brain drain and economic migration. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many of the brightest and best left in search of a better future in the United States, Canada and Australia, leaving the roots of a prosperous Greek diaspora.
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But the latest exodus is huge for a country of 11 million people that had a quarter of its national output wiped out by sweeping austerity between 2009 and 2018, with wages and pensions also slashed.
At that time, up to half of Greece’s population under the age of 25 was unemployed.
Tsanis does not regret his decision to leave from a professional point of view.
“There was a lot of volatility,” he told AFP.
But he never felt at home during the 13 years he spent in the UK, US and Nigeria.
Wherever she moved, “I felt like I didn’t really belong,” she said. “I wanted to settle down and have my own family back in Greece,” added the 39-year-old.
Two months ago, Tsanis returned to Athens to create a startup, a move that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago.
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Repatriating expatriates remains a key goal of the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who comfortably won re-election to a second four-year term last year.
“The country is on a progressive path,” asserted Tsanis.
From a high of 27 percent in 2013, unemployment in April fell below 11 percent — though still nearly double the European Union average.
About 350,000 people who emigrated during the crisis have since returned, the finance ministry said in March.
But many others, who started families abroad, will not be easy to convince, admitted the economist Panos Tsakloglou, Deputy Minister of Social Insurance.
Tax deductions
The state offers a 50 percent tax rebate for the first seven years of relocation to Greece to lure migrants back.
Only about 10,000 people have taken advantage of the offer, Tsakloglou said, as living standards in Greece remain low.
The Greek minimum wage is 830 euros ($900), about 900 euros lower than France’s.
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Last year, average annual income was half the European average, according to EU data agency Eurostat.
Irene Capogianni, an orthodontist who returned home in 2019 after seven years in Germany, said returning to a country still reeling from the crisis was not “easy”.
“I had to start from scratch,” said the thirtysomething.
To help others like herself, Capogianni created a network called Return to Greece to exchange advice and job offers. About 10,000 people have signed up so far.
“The new generation is well educated and has a lot to offer the country,” said Capoyannis.
US-based heart surgeon Michael Magarakis is torn between the “massive” benefits of his current career and starting a family in Greece.
“The business side is holding me back,” he said.
“I would be willing to sacrifice some of the benefits, I’m very close to it. At some point you have to call it a day and go back to your family and live your life,” he said.
Source: AFP