ATHENS — Please come back!

That's the message from the Greek government to the talented young people who left the country during the financial crisis.

To encourage them to do so, the authorities have launched a wage subsidy scheme called Rebrain Greece that offers 500 of those deemed the brightest and best a monthly salary of €3,000 (before tax) if they return to Greece as part of the project. The labor ministry will cover 70 percent of the cost.

“This is a first effort by the Greek state, which seeks to create the conditions for a gradual return,” said Konstantinos Agrapidas, a senior figure in the labor ministry who is overseeing the program.

The scheme started last April as a way to reverse the brain drain and was deemed so important that not even a change of government after July's election could derail it.

“As Greece emerges from the crisis and is now back on a steady track of economic and social reconstruction, it is regaining the means and the power to directly target its efforts to create the appropriate environment for the return of the Greek diaspora, who sought jobs and the prospect of a better life abroad during the crisis,” said Greek Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis, while presenting the program.

An estimated 500,000 people moved abroad during the financial crisis, during which the Greek economy shrunk by a quarter and unemployment skyrocketed to 28 percent. Unemployment figures have improved since then, but still are more than double the European Union and eurozone average.

The brain drain accelerates the Greek economy's biggest danger: bad demographics. By 2050, Greece’s population is expected to shrink by anywhere between 800,000 and 2.5 million people to between 8.3 and 10 million, and one in three residents will be over the age of 65, according to a study by Dianeosis, a research and policy institute.

The government's response was to offer a financial bonus of €2,000 for every birth.

“Brain drain is a serious issue for the Greek labor market. It's not only the lack of opportunities, but also overtaxation, lack of meritocracy” — Guy Krief, board member of mobile technology company Upstream

Greece has experienced mass migration before, including in the decades after World War II, but the difference this time is that it's the Greeks with the highest levels of education and skills who are emigrating. More than 90 percent of those who left were college graduates, and 64 percent held a postgraduate degree, according to a survey by consulting firm ICAP.

Human capital is Greece’s No. 1 export, according to a report by Endeavor, a global nonprofit organization. It says that Greece’s brain drain generates, annually, the equivalent of €12.9 billion in GDP and €9.1 billion in taxes for the countries that Greeks move to, while Greece itself spent €8 billion to educate these people.

Zina Maria Penteridou, a 27-year-old geographic information systems analyst who has been living in London for nearly four years, was enthusiastic when she found out about the new program. She said she didn't want to leave Greece but when she finished her studies the crisis was at its peak and her parents pushed her to go abroad.

“A window of opportunity popped up in my mind. I'm aware that coming back would probably mean a lower salary and work standards, but I would still want to come, if there was a good opportunity.”

But not everyone likes the scheme, with criticism that it is unfair to those who resisted the temptation to leave and chose to stay in Greece during the tough crisis years.

“One has to consider those who stayed. And they were tormented by unemployment despite being high-skilled, they either opted for an unemployment allowance, which turned out to be a choice for some, or they managed to suffer for a long time and wait until a job was found,” said an op-ed in one of the largest-circulation Greek newspapers, To Vima.

“I understand that it might be considered unfair for all who stayed behind during all these difficult years,” said Penteridou.

But Agrapidas refuted such criticism, pointing out that this is not a program aiming at reducing unemployment, but rather to cover the country's needs with experts who simply aren't there.

Lack of expertise

Despite the very high level of unemployment, many businesses in Greece, especially in the technology sector, say they struggle to find employees with the right skills.

Guy Krief, a board member of Upstream, a mobile technology company, said he is struggling to lure engineers, as the best qualified were moving abroad as soon as they completed their studies, and were reluctant to return.

“So instead of trying to find employees with the right studies and experience, we decided to invest in giving the necessary experience, offering a one-year training program to student graduates, who we then hire,” he said.

Corruption and the lack of meritocracy are the main reasons that push Greeks to seek a better life abroad.

“Brain drain is a serious issue for the Greek labor market. There is a whole generation with ambitions, dreams and appetite for work, but it's like they are trying to sprint and someone is constantly handing them dumbbells. It's not only the lack of opportunities, but also overtaxation, lack of meritocracy,” he said.

Indeed, the report by ICAP shows that corruption and the lack of meritocracy are the main reasons that push Greeks to seek a better life abroad, followed by the financial crisis, as well as poor social welfare and poor working conditions.

“You come back from an organized society, where many issues, like being respected at work, are considered self-evident,” said Thomas Kotsis, 36, who came back to Greece from Ireland eight months ago to work as a digital marketing manager at Upstream. “You are considered an asset for your employer and he is trying to keep you and if it doesn't work there are other opportunities.”

Kotsis left six years ago when the company he was working for stopped paying him on time.

“I didn't want to start my 30s this way. As years were passing by my career was evolving abroad, but I was always afraid not to have roots there, I wanted to come back. I'm still finding it hard to adjust here and the fact that there isn't a pool of businesses and competition is making me nervous, but on the other hand we have to make a start and reverse the trend.”