I know. It’s not a news anymore. The fact that unemployment rises each and every month. It can be news though if the unemployment rises also in months were traditionally it was lower due to tourism season in summer months. Whether it’s worth reporting or not, unemployment reached 27.6% in July. Yes, in July 2013, just three months after Samaras’ government launched its ‘success story’ campaign.
Greece’s unemployment rate is continuing to climb, reaching 27.6 percent in July compared with a revised 27.5 percent a month earlier, data by the country’s statistical authority ELSTAT showed Thursday.
ELSTAT said that 1.36 million people were without a job in July, up ten percent from a year earlier.
The number of employed has decreased by 136,714 persons versus July 2012 (a 3.6 percent decrease) and by 14,219 persons versus June 2013 (a 0.4 percent decrease), according to the agency.
Youth unemployment was at 55.1 percent, ELSTAT data showed.
The conservative-led coalition expects modest jobs growth next year. But even then, it forecasts unemployment to remain high, at an average 26 percent compared with 27 percent for this year.
The biggest labor union, the GSEE, has painted a much darker picture and expects unemployment to exceed 30 percent in coming years.
The government also predicts that the economy will start to grow again next year – the first average annual growth since 2007 – albeit at an anemic 0.6 percent.
In a report published on Wednesday, the IMF said Greece will need to adopt new austerity measures to the tune of 6.7 billion euros from 2014 to 2016 in order to make its fiscal adjustment targets. (via ekathimerini)
