The Italian Parliament finding its way out of the
debt crisis. (AFP)
debt crisis. (AFP)
Rome:
As the Italian government struggles to stave off a biting debt crisis, thousands of university graduates are scraping the barrel for any job or abandoning Italy altogether to try their luck abroad.
"I did really well at my Master's degree but it makes no difference. I'm lucky to have found a job at the local pet shop," said 28-year old Siriana Malavita, who speaks five languages and had hoped to go on to doing a doctorate.
"I had to give up on that dream. The university professors tend to favour their own students and personal projects, so unless you have the right connections -- and money to pay your own way - If you don't, forget it," she said.
In an attempt to use her languages, Malavita sent out reams of CVs to export companies in her hometown of Modica in Sicily - a farming industry centre which produces prized olives, dried fruit and chocolate.
"But the businesses don't want graduates; they hire their brothers, cousins, friends," she said.
Friends of hers who have studied law, economics or modern languages find themselves in the same position, fighting over temporary summer jobs, working as industrial cleaners to pay the rent or giving up and seeking work abroad.
Photo journalist Matteo Pellegrinuzzi, 31, tired of scraping by and being paid months late by unreliable employees, left Milan for Paris in 2009 -- where his work gets snapped up by top magazines - and he has never looked back.
"It's sad to think that to avoid ending up as an odd-job man, a painter or a street-cleaner, I've had to leave home," he said.
"But if Italy is facing this sort of crisis, it only has itself to blame. Where is the financial aid or support for young people?" he asked.
According to a study by the education think tank AlmaLaurea, unemployment among graduates "has gone up over the last 10 years, while pay packets have shrunk and contracts are harder to come by."
The report, based on the most recent data available, said that 16.2 per cent of graduates were unemployed in 2009 a year after finishing their studies.
The proportion of unemployed graduates in 2007 was 11.3 per cent.
"I did really well at my Master's degree but it makes no difference. I'm lucky to have found a job at the local pet shop," said 28-year old Siriana Malavita, who speaks five languages and had hoped to go on to doing a doctorate.
"I had to give up on that dream. The university professors tend to favour their own students and personal projects, so unless you have the right connections -- and money to pay your own way - If you don't, forget it," she said.
In an attempt to use her languages, Malavita sent out reams of CVs to export companies in her hometown of Modica in Sicily - a farming industry centre which produces prized olives, dried fruit and chocolate.
"But the businesses don't want graduates; they hire their brothers, cousins, friends," she said.
Friends of hers who have studied law, economics or modern languages find themselves in the same position, fighting over temporary summer jobs, working as industrial cleaners to pay the rent or giving up and seeking work abroad.
Photo journalist Matteo Pellegrinuzzi, 31, tired of scraping by and being paid months late by unreliable employees, left Milan for Paris in 2009 -- where his work gets snapped up by top magazines - and he has never looked back.
"It's sad to think that to avoid ending up as an odd-job man, a painter or a street-cleaner, I've had to leave home," he said.
"But if Italy is facing this sort of crisis, it only has itself to blame. Where is the financial aid or support for young people?" he asked.
According to a study by the education think tank AlmaLaurea, unemployment among graduates "has gone up over the last 10 years, while pay packets have shrunk and contracts are harder to come by."
The report, based on the most recent data available, said that 16.2 per cent of graduates were unemployed in 2009 a year after finishing their studies.
The proportion of unemployed graduates in 2007 was 11.3 per cent.
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