Euronews interview: the labour market and the reunification of Cyprus

Below is an 8 minute video of the interview I gave to euronews on labour market issues in relation to the reunification process.

http://www.euronews.com/2017/02/23/gregoris-ioannou-reunification-of-cyprus-could-stop-the-drift-of-young-people

Gregoris Ioannou is a Greek Cypriot sociologist, teaching at Frederick University in Nicosia. He has co-authored, with his Turkish Cypriot colleague Sertac Sonan, a study on youth unemployment on the island.

He talks to euronews reporter Valerie Gauriat about the current state of the labour market, and what could be hoped from a future integration. And insists that labour laws should also be unified, in order to avoid social dumping.

Youth Unemployment in Cyprus An Examination of the "Lost Generation"

co-authored with Sertac Sonan, 
commissioned by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung

Youth unemployment has been rapidly rising in the Republic of Cyprus in the last decade and now stands above the figure in the northern part of Cyprus. Youth unemployment in the Republic of Cyprus stands significantly above the EU and Euro area average.

While youth unemployment has always been chronically high in the northern part of Cyprus, it has been declining in the last three years reaching a level slightly below the Euro Area. 

The big proportion of higher education graduates and the strength of the institution of the family in both sides at the same time reinforce and control the social impact of the problem. The same applies for the individual-oriented programmes such as the ones in force at EU and national levels, which cannot provide medium or longterm solutions. 

The problem is structural and connected to the broader deterioration of labour market conditions. Active labour market policies need to be implemented alongside a comprehensive regulatory framework that strengthens collective bargaining in combination with public and private investment.

the full report is available here
http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id-moe/12825.pdf