The jobless rate is continuing to increase by the month in Greece as the official figure for March announced on Thursday by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), amounting to 21.9 percent, was half a percentage point higher than February’s 21.4 percent rate. In March 2011 it had stood at 15.7 percent.
The official number of people employed came to 3,843,905, while the unemployed amounted to 1,075,081. More than 342,000 people lost their jobs in the 12 months to end-March and the jobless figure grew by almost 295,000 people, the data showed.
Young people are by far the worst affected, as the unemployment rate for those aged between 15 and 24 years now exceeds one in two (52.8 percent), while one in three aged between 15 and 44 are also without work.
According to the figures, women are worse off than men, as their jobless rate exceeds one in four (25.8 percent). The region with the highest unemployment level is Macedonia and Thrace, with 24.3 percent.
