THE PROTRACTED global economic crisis has seen record unemployment levels in Cyprus, but more so in Greece, leading more and more Greek nationals to sail east seeking jobs on the island.
Even though unemployment in Cyprus is high, particularly among the youth, in Greece it reached 18.3 per cent in August. The impact has seen an exodus of Greek nationals, many of whom seek jobs in Cyprus, particularly in education, where the number of Greek candidate teachers on the ministry’s much-maligned ‘waiting list’ has seen a “formidable increase”, more than doubling in 2010 compared to the year before.
Greek teachers applying to work in the Cypriot education system are by and large not fresh to the job market. The criteria for prioritising appointments include work experience and year of graduation, bumping Greek nationals above their Cypriot colleagues and putting huge pressure on the already massive list.
Unemployment in Cyprus rose from 7.9 per cent in September to 8.2 per cent in October according to Eurostat. More than one in five people under 25 (22.7 per cent) were unemployed in September.
Greece’s overall unemployment is more than double that of Cyprus, reaching 18.3 per cent in August, up from 17.7 per cent in July. The Greek unemployment rate for under 25s is 45.1 per cent.
According to Greek Embassy estimates, in the last two years about 1,500 Greek companies have moved their headquarters to Cyprus as a direct outcome of the economic crisis in Greece.
The greater concentration of Greek investment is in the financial sector, consultancy services, trade and construction. The number of Greek companies actually registered in Cyprus now counts for ten per cent of the total.
Regarding the job market, the embassy notes that Greeks have traditionally worked in the Cypriot hospitality sector and food industry but “more and more Greeks have begun submitting applications for jobs in the public sector”. Around 20 per cent of teacher candidates are now Greeks. The health sector has also become an attractive area for Greeks.
President of the Cyprus Actors’ Union, Dinos Lyras, told Cyprus News Agency last month that a number of young Greek actors are coming over looking for work while TV bosses are hiring established Greek actors to beef up ratings for their serials.
Despite concrete figures in the education sector, the evidence of a Greek exodus to Cyprus is mostly anecdotal, as the relevant state departments do not record the number of Greeks looking for jobs here, only those who get a job and pay social insurance contributions.
The Cyprus Mail alone has seen an increase in the number of job applications from Greek journalists. Instances have been heard of highly qualified Greeks, some holding doctorates, applying for vacancies, regardless of pay grade and position.
There are around 32,000 Greek nationals living in Cyprus, and according to the social insurance fund in 2010 10,474 worked here, an 11 per cent increase on the 9,429 registered in 2009.
A ministry source said these figures do not include those who are employed but aren’t paying social insurance contributions, putting them in the ‘illegally employed’ bracket.
In 2010, the average number of Greeks collecting unemployment in Cyprus was 813 while on December 9, the figure reached 1,511.
“While many come looking for work, not many Greeks get employed because we also have high unemployment,” said the source, adding: “You get some employers like restaurateurs who say they prefer Greeks because they speak better Greek than Cypriots do but otherwise we’ve not really seen a big increase.”
A glance at the situation in the Education Ministry and an entirely different picture is painted.
According to the head of the ministry’s Educational Service Commission (ESC), the waiting list for public teaching jobs has seen a “formidable increase” as a result of the economic crisis.
“We are talking about huge numbers. It creates a problem, putting pressure on the waiting list for non-appointed teachers,” said Stelios Stylianou.
“A lot of these teachers come from Greece with experience which we have to take into account when assessing criteria. This puts them higher up on the list,” he added.
According to ESC data, at the turn of the millennium, only a handful of candidate teachers applied to work in Cyprus’ public sector, 23 in total.
With Cyprus’ accession to the EU, this jumped to 523 in 2004 and 922 in 2005. By 2007, the number dropped to 608 but saw a big increase in 2009, reaching 1,027.
As the global crisis started to pinch, this figure doubled the following year, with a record 2,135 Greek nationals applying out of a total 4,866 in 2010, counting for 44 per cent of all applicants last year.
Where does this leave education graduates waiting for a public teaching job? The total number of candidate teachers on the waiting list in January 2011 was 35,644. From this figure 7,128 are Greek nationals, counting for 20 per cent.
Even if one factors that some teachers would have resigned since January 2011, and some would have got jobs, the 5,000-odd new applications this year still takes the swollen waiting list closer to 40,000.
According to ESC official Vasilis Hadjilouca, the situation is pretty drastic.
“We have seen a massive increase to the list in the last seven years. For every few hundred that retire, we get two to three thousand new applicants wanting to take their place,” he said.
The situation becomes more acute for Cypriot graduates when one looks at the way candidates are prioritised on the list.
First the ministry looks at when you applied for a state teachers’ job. For all those who applied in 2011, for example, the next factor considered is when you got your degree. Given that nearly all 2011 Cypriot applicants are new graduates, they are placed further down the list from their Greek colleagues who by and large graduated years before.
Given the age gap, Greek nationals also tend to have more degrees than their Cypriot colleagues and work experience, giving them priority among applicants who applied the same year as them.
“If a new Einstein with three PhDs applies tomorrow, he won’t get a position for a long time the way the situation is now,” said Hadjilouca.
Marios Thoma is Secretary for the ‘Non-Appointed Teachers Movement’ in Cyprus, which represents some 6,000 candidates, and has been waiting 20 years to be appointed.
Thoma says he holds no grudge on his Greek colleagues, considering that the system as a whole is defective.
“The way things are going, no one will be appointed, neither Cypriot nor Greek. We had very few appointments this year. So, whether we’re 10,000 or 100,000 on the waiting list, only a handful will get appointed. Discussion is futile,” he said.
Regarding the influx of Greek teachers, he said: “The way I see it, the people are hungry. If we can help, then we should until Greece sees brighter days. I just hope that we don’t all end up migrating to Australia looking for jobs.”
Thoma’s position highlights a sentiment felt by many but often forgotten. Few people choose to leave their country in search of work unless they have to.
Maria-Irene Karachaliou, a 28-year-old librarian from Greece, did just that in September after finding a job at the University of Nicosia Medical Library.
“I never imagined that I would one day become an economic migrant. I thought that notion to be very far off,” she said.
Karachaliou found the job on the website of the Union of Cyprus Librarians. “I can’t describe that feeling of uncertainty and depression you get searching for jobs in Greece. You reach a dead-end,” she said, adding, “the young have started to realise that the future is not in Greece and are looking for jobs not just in Cyprus, but
beyond.”
