The global financial and economic crisis – including two euro area recessions in 2008-2009 and 2011-2013 – has had a heavy impact on euro area labour markets. A notable feature throughout the crisis has been the considerable degree of cross-country heterogeneity of labour market adjustments...

A series of wrong policies since the 1980s transformed the Greek economy into a problematic one and almost ready to collapse; for example, artificial increases in employment in nonproductive public services entailing low productivity; increasing wages above those guaranteed by productivity...