Greece jobless rate swells to a new record high of 28 per cent
UNEMPLOYMENT in Greece climbed to another record high as 2013 came to an end, swelling to 28 per cent of the labour force in November last year.
According to the Hellenic Statistical Authority, the proportion of people out of work and looking rose by 0.3 percentage points, and has increased from 26.3 per cent in the same month of 2012. Five years previously, the rate was only 7.8 per cent.
There are now 1.38m people out of work in the troubled Mediterranean country, where prices are deflating and the recession that began in 2008 is still rolling on. Greek youth unemployment stayed cripplingly high, just shy of the record peak, at 61.4 per cent of the 15-24 year old job market in November.
The Greek government announced last year that it had reached a primary surplus, one of the conditions for returning to international debt markets.