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Educated Greeks flock to Sweden to find work

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Educated Greeks flock to Sweden to find work

The deep financial crisis in Europe has led to more Greek citizens arriving in Sweden to seek employment, with twice as many coming 2011 compared to the year before.

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”We have a lack of engineers here; there are not enough university trained engineers in Sweden to cover the demand,” said Peter Karancsi, of the European Job Mobility Portal EURES to Sveriges Radio (SR).

Fresh figures from the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) show that the number of Greeks registering as residents in Sweden doubled in 2011, compared to the year before.

And according to SR, almost 100 Greek medical doctors have received medical licenses in Sweden so far this year, more than from any other EU country outside of Scandinavia.

“I have a better chance fo getting a job here than in Greece,” said electrical engineer Charis Katsakakis, just arrived from Athens, to the broadcaster.

And despite being a recent graduate and not knowing any Swedish, his prospects of finding work in Sweden are good, Karancsi told SR.

“Many of the larger Swedish companies have trainee-schemes and also recruit for the future and there is a great chance of being accepted to these, even if you don’t speak fluent Swedish,“ he told SR.

However, for those without specialized knowledge, the situation is quite different.

“Everything felt hopeless in Greece, but it is no better here. And then I’d rather go home," said 25-year-old Vladimiros Pavlides to SR.

Pavlides arrived in Sweden last autumn but has so far only managed to find a part-time job as a cleaner.

According to SR, the free movement over EU borders makes little difference when the labour market climate for those without specialized expertise is a lot tougher.

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