Greece’s jobless rate rose to 27.6 per cent in May from an upwardly revised 27 per cent in April, announced the country’s statistics service (ELSTAT) this week.
It was the highest reading since ELSTAT began publishing jobless data in 2006, and more than twice the eurozone’s average reading of 12.1 per cent in June, reflecting the impact of a six-year, austerity-fueled recession.
The number of unemployed people increased by 193,668 (a 16.3 per cent rate of increase) compared with May 2012 and by 30,558 compared with April 2013 (a 2.3 per cent rate of increase), ELSTAT said.
Meanwhile, the country’s youth unemployment rate stood at 64.9 per cent.
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Greek jobless rate soars
Youth unemployment hits over sixty per cent
Unemployed Greeks wait in a long line outside an office of Labor Force Employment Organization (OAED) in Athens, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2013. The country has been surviving on rescue loans from the IMF and other eurozone countries since 2010, when it lost access to long-term debt markets. Austerity measures demanded in return for the 240 billion euro ($319 billion) bailout program have hammered the economy and seen unemployment surge to 27 percent. Greece's annual economic output is around a fifth smaller than when it entered recession in 2008. (AAP via AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
