Unemployment Dynamics in the Greek Crisis

This short empirical paper examines the unemployment dynamics in Greece both in the long run and during the current crisis. Using monthly data from 2001 until mid-2012 it finds that unemployment fluctuations were predominantly driven by the job finding rate. Nevertheless, during the current unemployment boom, the contribution of the separation rate has increased, indicating that the recent reforms relaxing Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) have amplified the unemployment response to the recession.