"Things are getting worse and worse in Greece. There is no future for the next few years there," says Christos Christoglou, a Greek inspection engineer who moved to Germany to find work.
By Andy Eckardt and Carlo Angerer, NBC News
MAINZ, Germany – Thousands of well-educated workers are fleeing Greece as the eurozone crisis batters their homeland.
Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse and a country which has been criticized by many Greeks over its harsh demands for austerity cuts in return for bailout cash, has experienced an influx of young skilled immigrants.
Der Spiegel magazine noted that while Greek newspapers "printed cartoons depicting the Germans as Nazis, concentration camp guards and eurozone imperialists who allow their debtors to bleed to death," the Greeks have kept arriving – bringing an "anything is better than Athens" attitude with them.
With more than 50 percent of young Greeks out of work, it's not surprising that official statistics show the number of Greeks who moved to Germany increased 90 percent during 2011.
Unemployment rates have consistently been shrinking in Germany in recent years and the economy is thriving despite Europe's ongoing financial crisis. Relaxed cross-border employment regulations for member states of the European Union also make Germany an attractive choice for job seekers. And while Germany is in need of specialized workers, the Greek labor market has little to offer.
Leftist tipped to be next Greek leader warns of 'Cold War' over cuts
"It is virtually impossible to find a job in Greece at the moment," says Christos Christoglou, an inspection engineer who took a job at German chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer at the start of the financial crisis in June 2010. "It is not that there are only very few jobs for young graduates to seek, no, there are none, zero, there is nothing."
A year after moving to Germany, Christoglou's wife Mary and their 5-year old daughter Georgina joined him last summer. The family now lives in a four-bedroom apartment in Leverkusen. They are likely to stay for good.
"My wife, an English teacher, and our daughter, do not speak German yet. But my Mary will soon also try to find a job," Christoglou told NBC News. "And while, yes, it is quite difficult to be without our close friends and family in Greece, I do not want to waste my six years of intensive studies to find myself without hope for the future."
Christoglou, 38, says incentives are needed to prevent Greece's well-educated workforce from abandoning the country.
"I know many Greek academics, but also ordinary workers, who have moved to wealthier European countries, like France, the Netherlands or Sweden," he added.
Greek debt woes put Europe on financial knife edge
According to Germany's national statistics office, some 24,000 people left Greece last year to live and work in Germany, almost double the number who did so in 2010. However, Der Spiegel quoted Hamburg-based immigration expert Vassilis Tsianos as pointing out that those figures did not include people who had not registered with German authorities. Tsianos told the magazine he estimates that 60,000 new Greek immigrants arrived in Germany in 2011.
There was also a significant spike in the number of immigrants relocating to Germany from other economically depressed southern European countries last year, with official statistics showing an increase of 52 percent from Spain, 28 percent from Portugal and 23 percent from Italy.
So much for 'the Spanish dream': Euro crisis turns suburbs into ghost towns
Until a few weeks ago very few people had heard of him, but Alexis Tsipras could soon be the next Prime Minister of Greece. His anti-austerity stance won his party second place in the recent election, and the forecasts for next month's run-off suggest they could do even better.
The recent arrivals include 27-year-old IT specialist Vasileia Paschali, who decided to bid farewell to Greece's political and economic turmoil and arrived in the quaint southern German city of Boeblingen nine months ago. She didn't speak a word of German.
"The most difficult thing was learning German, it was terrifying at the beginning," Paschali told NBC News. "Life is so quiet and structured here in Boeblingen, which is quite a contrast to the hectic routine I experienced in Athens."
She responded to a job offer from German engineering development supplier Ruecker, a company which mainly services the automobile and aviation sectors.
Europe told to prep for Greek exit scenario
Wiesbaden-based Ruecker is actively recruiting technical engineers from Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, offering them a two-month paid language course followed by an open-ended contract with a guaranteed base salary of about $4,500 per month.
"There are simply not enough qualified applicants on the German market," says Thomas Aukamm, who works for Ruecker's marketing and recruiting department. "These are investments that we need to make in order to secure the workforce that we work with in the future."
The company has received about 3,500 applications, mainly from southern European countries, and is presently evaluating about 500 of them.
"Even if we could only fill 10 percent of the open positions, we would be very happy," Aukamm added.
Many residents fear that a slow economy is cutting into the number of foreign visitors. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
'Leaving everything behind'
For Paschali, whose parents, 28-year-old brother and other close family members remain in Greece, the move to Germany was not an easy choice.
Paschali already had a job at a local company in Athens, but she was forced to accept a 20 percent pay cut due to the financial crisis.
"Leaving everything behind with an uncertain future was difficult, of course, but I was seeking stability and believe that I can find it here in Germany," says Paschali, who is originally from the rural town of Trikala.
Greeks withdraw $894 million in one day
Greece's national unemployment rate presently stands at nearly 22 percent overall – German tabloid BILD has depicted Greeks as "lazy" – and widespread protests against the government's austerity measures continue. However, an estimated 70,000 engineering positions remain unfilled at the moment in Germany.
Courtesy Anna Sioki
University graduate Anna Sioki moved to Germany from Greece two years ago. "I was one of the lucky ones because I left at the beginning of the crisis," she says.
"Germany's skilled labor shortage could have severe economic consequences," said Dr. Ina Kayser of the the German Association of Engineers (VDI). "We estimate that the labor market could face economic losses of up to 7 billion euros, or nearly $10 billion, as a result of, for example, production delays or necessary relocation of production abroad."
Other German business sectors are also starting to look abroad.
'Vicious circle': Europe crisis threatens world economy, OECD says
Hospitals and private medical practices are also in need of highly trained personnel, especially in Germany's rural areas, where many workers have migrated to cities.
Karl Horn, staff manager at the Rheinhessen Clinic in Alzey, says that health care executives are increasingly looking at the southern European labor market.
"We've already sent out tweets in Spanish to advertise openings at our clinic," Horn said.
Why so glum? Germans struggle to find joy, poll suggests
Despite a degree in applied foreign languages, Anna Sioki was only able to find work at a book store in Thessaloniki after finishing her studies in 2009. She decided to come to Germany two years ago.
A new election is scheduled for June 17, as debate continues over the country's place in the euro zone. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
"I was one of the lucky ones because I left at the beginning of the crisis," the 27-year-old told NBC News.
Her parents were not as fortunate. Sioki's father, an electrician, had to close his shop due to a lack of business and has been unemployed for nearly two years. Her parents now live on a small pension that her mother receives.
"It is pretty bad that all the specialists are going abroad," Sioki self-critically remarked. "How is Greece supposed to make progress that way? But, I see no other solution for myself and the other young Greeks."
More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:
Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
