Greek
unemployment hit new record in May of 27.6 percent
Greece's
jobless rate hit a new record high of 27.6 percent in May, official
national data showed on Thursday as the country staggers under
austerity linked to its international bailout.
Reuters
,
8
August, 2013
Record
joblessness is a nightmare for Greece's two-party coalition
government as it scrambles to hit fiscal targets and show there is
light at the end of the tunnel after years of unpopular tax rises and
cuts to wages and pensions.
Unemployment
rose to 27.6 percent from an upwardly revised 27.0 percent reading in
April, according to data from statistics service ELSTAT and was more
than twice the average rate in the euro zone which stood at 12.1
percent in June.
The
latest reading was the highest since ELSTAT began publishing monthly
jobless data in 2006.
Greece
and Spain have been hit with similar levels of sky-high unemployment,
with latest Eurostat data showing seasonally adjusted unemployment in
June at 26.9 percent for Greece and 26.3 percent in Spain.
Spain
itself does not publish monthly jobless figures directly comparable
to Greece's own data, but Madrid's quarterly data shows its rate
peaked at 27.2 percent in the first three months of this year.
"Increased
employment in tourism cannot offset the restructuring in many sectors
of the economy and continuing weak demand," said economist Nikos
Magginas at National Bank.
However,
he said improving exports and a strong tourism season would help to
contain the further rise in joblessness expected this year.
Tourism
accounts for about 17 percent of Greece's economic output and one in
five jobs. Revenues are seen rising 10 percent in 2013, to 11 billion
euros, on the back of an expected record 17 million visitors.
Data
showed that those aged 15 to 24 remained the hardest-hit as the
jobless rate for this age group registered 64.9 percent.
With
the economy suffering its sixth straight year of recession and 1.38
million people officially without jobs, the pain is felt across the
board. Borrowers fall behind on loans and fewer workers pay into
pension funds.
A
turnaround will take time to be felt in the labor market even if
recovery sets in next year as authorities project. The central bank
projects unemployment will peak at 28 percent before it starts to
decline in 2015.
Scrambling
for ways to ease the pain for Greeks, Athens wants to tap about 170
million euros of EU regional development funds to launch job programs
and has asked the European Commission to approve the move.
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