Younger degree-holders in Greece still show highest unemployment rate in EU, despite 5-year decrease

Greece appears to have an unenviable first-place showing of unemployment in the European Union among tertiary degree holders between the ages of 25 and 39, according to results of a study tabled in Parliament by the Hellenic Authority for Higher Education.

The figure for Greece is 17 percent in the specific age category for degree-holders.

Conversely, over the last five-year (2017-21), the percentage of unemployed younger college graduates (25-39) throughout the EU is decreasing, with Greece showing the biggest decrease of all countries surveyed, down by 4.9 percent, although the over percentage remains very higher.

Meanwhile, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data, the percentage of college degree-holders in the 25-34 age bracket in Greece is close to the average among the organization’s member-states namely, at 43.69 percent, compared to 45.48 percent for the latter.

However, the average in the 25-64 age category in Greece trails the OECD average, 32.75 percent to 40 percent.