Sweden tells jobless youth to look for work in Greece

Sweden’s government-funded employment agency on Monday launched a campaign encouraging unemployed Swedish youths to look for summer jobs in crisis-stricken Mediterranean countries including Spain and Greece. The jobs, most of them in the hotel and entertainment sectors, will mainly serve Swedish tourists. “We hope our Swedish youths will get every single one of these jobs. These companies have had good experience of young Swedish workers,” said Kristina Gaerdebro Johansson, a European Employment Services (EURES) adviser at the Swedish agency. Hundreds of jobs in Greece, Spain, Italy and Cyprus — all popular tourist destinations for Swedes — will be marketed at a special event organized by the country’s employment agency and EURES in the southern city of Malmoe next week. The positions include football coaches, aerobics instructors and dancers at hotels and resorts around the Mediterranean. Some of the jobs require Scandinavian language skills, but not all of them, said Gaerdebro Johansson. Youth unemployment in Greece and Spain currently stands at more than 50 percent. Although Sweden’s export-driven economy is beginning to feel the effects of Europe’s economic woes, it has posted strong growth since making a quick recovery from the 2008 recession. It also has a low level of government debt. But youth unemployment has remained above the European average, reaching a seasonally adjusted 23.9 percent in December. Sweden’s employment agency is offering to reimburse those who want to travel to the Mediterranean job fair from other parts of the country. “This is a great opportunity if you want to enter the job market,” Gaerdebro Johansson said.