Mary Kolonia is 19 years old and lives in Athens. She doesn't go to university, she is in gainful... euronews, the most watched news channel in Europe Subscribe for your daily dose of international news, curated and explained:http://eurone.ws/10ZCK4a Euronews is available in 13 other languages: http://eurone.ws/17moBCU http://www.euronews.com/2013/06/21/europe-s-jobless-generation Mary Kolonia is 19 years old and lives in Athens. She doesn't go to university, she is in gainful employment. Sort of. She works eight hours a day, five days a week at a call centre selling televisions. Her salary is 20 euros. Not per hour, not per day -- it's 20 euros a week. Mary lives at home with her parents and brother. Her father, a decorator, has little work. Her mother cleans houses. Their monthly income is minimal. So why does she stay in her current job? Mary says she has no choice: "Because I haven't found anything else and because I'm at an age where I can't ask for money all the time from my parents, because I don't want to as they are in a difficult situation as well. So, I don't want to burden them. I take the 20 euros per week and I get through my week with all my expenses but this money only lasts for 3-4 days, after that I'm out of money." Mary and her family are Albanian of Greek ethnicity. They came to Greece in search of a better life during the country's boom years. Today, that better life seems little more than a pipe dream. But she isn't angry: "We have reached a point that we never expected to. We don't even have a euro to buy necessary things like bread or milk, for instance. So, it's not that I'm angry, it's desperation. It's a pity because there are so many other young people in the same situation." Mary belongs to the growing ranks of young people unable to find work. And this phenomenon is not unique to Greece. Throughout the European Union, the biggest victims of the eurozone crisis have been Europe's youngest workers: those under the age of 25. In eighteen out of 27 EU member states, youth unemployment is over 20 percent. But for Ireland, Slovakia, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Greece as many as one in two people in this age bracket have no job. In total, Europe has 27 million people out of work. Nick Malkoutzis is Deputy Editor of the Greek newspaper 'Kathimerini'. He has written extensively on the problem of Europe's youth unemployment, which he says should include those under 30 years of age. He is warning that a young generation, with little future, is the main ingredient in an explosive political and social cocktail that EU leaders can no longer ignore: "Well clearly when you have seven out of ten young people unemployed and a lot of those disappointed, apoplectic about the opportunity of finding work, then you create a dangerous social situation and I guess it has two real ways you can see it developing. One is that you see a lot of young Greeks going abroad, that has started to some extent. We have 120 thousand graduates studying and working abroad over the last few years and the other is that they become so disappointed and angry with the political system, the decision makers in Greece, they turn to rather extreme solutions. " Since Greece signed its first EU-IMF bailout three years ago, demonstrations have become an all too-familiar sight. A young generation protesting against what the baby boomer political generation has left them: a eurozone crisis, wage cuts, higher taxes and a shrinking job market with no room for young people. But last month, a sign that Europe's two biggest economies, Germany and France, have woken up and smelled the social crisis coffee. Angela Merkel and François Hollande announced a new vision of Europe which would include investing in the EU's young - a so called "New Deal". France's President Holland said he wants more focus on the problem: "We would like it [Europe] to pay more attention to the job situation, especially jobs for the young." Germany's Angela Merkel is aware a structural change is happening: "If you look at the [austerity] programmes adopted in Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal or in Ireland, you will notice that it's not just a question of budget consolidation. These are massive reforms that are completely changing these countries." Critics have argued the 'massive reforms' in these countries are virtually erasing the young from the job market. But under this so-called 'New Deal' the plan is to use some 6 billion euros to finance jobs in small and medium businesses across the EU. There will also be funding for language and training courses, so people can move to where the jobs are. Namely Germany and Austria. Find us on: Youtube http://bit.ly/zr3upY Facebook http://www.facebook.com/euronews.fans Twitter http://twitter.com/euronews
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