As reported by Kathimerini (link in Greek), data from ELSTAT provides a stark indicator of just how profoundly the recession, exacerbated by crushing austerity, has affected the city which generates 50% of Greece’s GDP, and is home to 40% of its population.
Unemployment / Underemployment
- Number of Unemployed final quarter of 2008: 134,100
- Number of Unemployed first quarter of 2014: 517,800
Out of the roughly 3.8 million people that live in the greater region of Attica 400,000 people have lost their jobs during the course of the crisis. Of these 179,507 have been unemployed for over a year, up from 60,720 in April of 2010. However thanks to cuts in social spending the number of people receiving unemployment benefits actually fell, dropping to 39,434 in April 2014 from 69,887 in April 2010.
This means that only about 8 in 100 of the half million unemployed Athenians receive unemployment benefits.
In addition to this, the number of people under-employed and in part time work has grown as have the number of people who work but face delays in receiving wages. 130,000 workers in Athens earn less than 470 euros gross salary per month, while 300,000 workers are estimated to be paid wages with delays of one to six months.
Business Activity
The downward economic spiral led to a major drop in consumption in most sectors. The construction industry in particular has effectively collapsed. In December of 2009 - i.e. even after the effects of the crisis were already being felt - the number of construction permits issued in one month was 15,347. That is almost three times the number of permits issued for the whole of 2013 (3,675).
Similarly there were only 28,000 car purchases in Athens in 2013 compared to 144,586 in 2007.
In total it is estimated that 65,000 businesses in Attica - or about 30% - have been shuttered due to the crisis.
Overall this has seen the GDP of the city drop at an unprecedented rate for a European city during peacetime:
- Attica GDP (in billions):
- 2009 - 110.5
- 2011 - 100.0
- 2013 - 90 (predicted)
As would be expected this economic mass destruction has had an effect on the savings of Greeks. Contrary to the popular (if erroneous) view that Greek families lived heavily off borrowed money before the crisis, in December of 2009, according to the bank of Greece, citizens’ total deposits in Greek banks totalled 237.5 billion euros. Of these 133 billion euros belonged to Athenians.
As the crisis deepened deposits were reduced by 74.3 billion euros (as they were spent or spirited out of the country). The withdrawals by Athenians alone reached 52 billion euros.
In short, if this is what success of Greece’s ‘rescue’ looks like, those behind it must have a very bleak definition of failure.
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