Michalis Christodoulou points out a phenomenon that is currently on the rise on the island, creating new data and demands in Cypriot society.
Thursday morning, 8:15. I cross and pass opposite the old Municipal Theater of Nicosia at 3 Museum Street. There is one of the offices of the Public Employment Service where people of all ages gather every day.
Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, other community members and from third countries who are looking for a job and go there in need of unemployment benefits. In the face of the scourge of unemployment, everyone looks the same, no one is different, no one excels, while the word "unemployment" is now very difficult to articulate, since the phenomenon has come to be considered a miasma.
The dramatically rising trend of unemployment in Cyprus in the last three years could be indicative of a single visit to the public employment service one morning. Hundreds of people flock there every day and are driven into unemployment overnight, mainly due to the financial crisis. "The people who come here every day are more and more," the employee at the reception of the public employment service tells me. "Today, however, there are not that many", he adds, while I notice that the room is half full. "So what happens on days when the turnout is high?" I ask her. "Damn," he replies, stressing that the increase in people coming there in recent months is more than obvious.
I entered the Employment Service room at 8:20 in the morning. Behind the reception desk on a computer screen is written the priority serial number and every time it changes an annoying sound is heard. The civil servant instructs the attendees with stern instruction to be careful, not to talk to each other and to be quiet to see their number when it is their turn. Men and women get the pink and blue papers and wait for their turn. Some sit in silence, others come either alone or with friends, the younger ones arrive after nine while others wait patiently with that blank stare. There are of course the most experienced and familiar with the area who have even established special relationships with other unemployed.
The screen with the numbering for the priority order at about 8:25 when I got there, said that the number was 89. At 10:15 I left the number 184 would be served. This was another unofficial item, I thought, proving the Rising unemployment in Cyprus, on a day that, according to the employee of the service, was moderate.
At the back of the room my gaze falls on a young man around 22, who seemed to be coming there for the first time. I approached him asking if he was coming for the first time. I answered in the affirmative and explained to him that he should get a number. This man recently finished his studies and entered the labor market. "I could not find anything," he explained. "We are an unfortunate generation, we have fallen into this crisis and we are wandering left and right." Next to us sits a woman of Greek origin around 40, together with her Cypriot husband, who listened to our conversation and interrupted us and said that she is also a novice in unemployment. I asked what led her there and she replied stunned: "Forced resignation! At the wrong time. " I did not have to ask anything else, that said it all, since her husband added in a bold style: "Do you understand, right?" I nodded and continued to listen to him. "I'm self-employed, but like everything I see myself here very soon."
On the way out I met one of the most exuberant figures I saw there and decided to find out what makes her so popular. He politely informed me that he is "old" there because he is an extraordinary civil servant in a ministry and often comes to sign. "I became an expert," he explains with a laugh, "and I help those who need me." Saying goodbye, he pointed out to me how cold it was, wishing it would snow again and we would see a white day again. This lady was, perhaps, the other side of the coin, the side that takes things in stride and treats them just right, with humor.
Leaving, however, I inadvertently put myself in the place of those people in whose eyes you read their myriad irregular thoughts, perhaps the many unanswered ones: "Why me"?
The word "unemployed" and "unemployment" I felt, crossing the road again, that it will be very difficult to articulate. On the other hand, I was smiling both with the temperament and with the composure of the extraordinary civil servant with the tabby hat who wished the city and our souls to turn white again.
More than 32 thousand unemployed in January
The official figures of the Ministry of Labor are even more disappointing from the point of view of the people and with simple mathematics, quite ominous for the future. In 2010, the average monthly number of people who applied to the employment service for unemployment benefits reached 9.847, of which 50,7% were women. During January, the registered job seekers in the lists of the public employment service, according to the official data of the Ministry of Labor, broke every record, reaching 32.262. The corresponding number for 2011 reached 25.142, in 2010 23.154 and in January 2009 13.347. In conclusion, we observe that in the last year, the number of unemployed increased by 7.120 people, ie an increase of 28%, while compared to 2009, the number of unemployed increased by almost 19.000, ie showed an increase that reaches almost the mammoth percentage. of 142%. The phenomenon of unemployment in Cyprus has as a natural negative impact on the economy of the state, since the large volume of unemployment benefits comes from state funds. If the annual expenditure on unemployment benefits for 2009 reached 78 million euros, what will be the corresponding expenditure for 2012 when the unemployment rate as everything shows will have just skyrocketed?
Source: KATHIMERINI