Part of the austerity measures just passed by the Greek government involves the cutting of 150,000 government jobs over the next four years. Considering the size of Greece, this is pretty draconian.
Greece’s population is somewhere north of 11 million people. Canada is roughly three times that. So imagine being asked to cut 450,000 Canadian government jobs over the next four years.
It’s actually unimaginable as there aren’t that many jobs in our government to begin with (at least not if you only count federal employees).
Perhaps this helps us understand part of the puzzle as to what got them into trouble? Too much government? In the end, it was certainly just spending more than they earned, plain and simple.
Not ever one can tye a double windsor knot as well as you can Preet,an not ever one can change there timing belt,but we can pay by the hour for are investment advice we need…I’m sure my advisor spends more time on his golf swing ,then looking at my investments,but he will invite me to a golf turny this August.
they spent more than they earned but it was their government’ fault because the government was responsible to not let their citizen creating more debt
an now Italy and Spain are next
You have to remember, however, that in many European countries doctors, nurses, teachers, and university professors are all considered government employees. In Canada these individuals (of whom there must be several hundred thousand) are not considered government employees even though they are paid by the government. Laying off 150,000 Greek government employees is a huge number but it may not translate directly to a Canadian context.
Good point Ally, it’s not a perfect contextual analysis, but scary nonetheless!