Lessons from the Strukturwandel in the Ruhrgebiet: turning Northern Greece into an industrial champion?

Abstract

Against the background of the (at least partially) successfully overcome structural change in the Ruhrgebiet, this project analyses whether and to what extent Northern Greece, especially Central Macedonia with the city of Thessaloniki, can learn from the Ruhrgebiet when conducting the required structural reforms and coping with structural change. In the Ruhrgebiet, the process of structural change seems to be almost complete. More than half of the workforce is now employed in the service sector – and that proportion continues to increase. But some problems such as a high proportion of educationally disadvantaged households with a migration background remain due to the missed structural change in the 1960s. This study thus analyses the structural characteristics of the Greek economy and workforce with particular emphasis on the northern regions in Greece and compares them to the Ruhrgebiet and NRW.