STUDY Youth Unemployment in Greece Economic and Political Perspectives ANNIE TUBADJI November 2012  During the pre-crisis decade, the involvement of young people in education and training increased by 30 per cent and, as a consequence, more than two-thirds of the youth population were inactive. Therefore youth unemployment in Greece today is not a product of Greek employment policy alone but also the result of increasing participation rates in education and training.  Austerity measures in Greece mean that it is most cost efficient to fire workers with the least work experience, thus causing faster growth of both the youth unemploy­ment rate and the share of discouraged unemployed young people in comparison to the national average.  The current state of youth unemployment ultimately means that Greek young people – many of whom were previously in education – are potential emigrants, motivated by low wages and severe competition for fewer jobs.  The EU-IMF memorandum has led to changes in Greek labour laws, which means that young people in Greece currently have more reason to remain unemployed than start a part-time job.  Entrepreneurship in Greece is as widespread as in other EU countries, but at present Greek young people who are not yet entrepreneurially active express much less interest in such activities. Thus, a range of measures including tax incentives and entrepreneurship-related bank loans, should be considered.