| Περιγραφή Προγράμματος: | The main purpose of the Project Proposal is to focus on the problem of rising unemployment and underemployment (particularly for the young and women) in Greece during the ongoing crisis and recession. To this purpose, the project will provide territory-specific accounts of un/underemployment patterns and tools to reverse the situation. Within the proposed conceptual and analytical framework, un/underemployment will be explored in relation to regional/local economic structures. The analysis will reveal the interface between local production specialisation and restructuring on one hand, and increasing local labour surplus on the other. The results will fuel participatory action research involving labour, business and other local stakeholders in the development of strategies integrating human capital in sustainable economic recovery.
The project intends to set an agenda of issues and apply a methodology which will overcome the drawbacks of mainstream approaches, both on the research and policy level, by achieving two goals:
(a) establish that the unemployed and underemployed (forming the local labour surplus) constitute territorially-embedded human assets of knowledge and expertise, skills and experience and thus, are indispensable for the recovery and sustainable growth of the local economy and
(b) substantiate that shrinking work opportunities and hindered access to employment is not a problem that can be solved on an individual basis. Joblessness is a problem affecting the community as a whole, therefore requires the coordination of the local labour surplus with institutional and business organizations in order to claim back the right to work, and upgrade local development structures.
To serve the research objectives, the project will focus at certain regions/localities in order to examine:
1.tthe industrial mix and production specialisation in relation to employment and unemployment patterns, in order to assess how local competitive advantages have been developed
2.tthe qualifications, skills, and attitudes of the unemployed and underemployed, in order to identify possible incompatibilities with local production patterns (as the reason they are not absorbed in the labour market) and potential growth patterns taking advantage of the local human capital
3.tthe capacity of actors - such as labour unions, representatives of the unemployed, local authorities, employment bureaus, chambers of industry and commerce, civil society organizations - to addres |
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Greek