Greek unemployment drops to 20.8 percent in December, eurozone’s highest
Greece’s jobless rate eased to 20.8 percent in December from an upwardly revised 21 percent in the previous month, the country’s statistics service ELSTAT said on Thursday.
Seasonally adjusted data showed the number of unemployed at 989,199 people, with younger persons aged up to 24 bearing the brunt of being out of work.
Among younger persons aged 15 to 24, the jobless rate eased to 45 percent from 46.7 percent in the same month in 2016.
Greece’s jobless rate, which hit a record high of 27.9 percent in September 2013, has been coming down since but remains the highest in the euro zone.
The government expects the unemployment rate to fall to 18.4 percent this year, based on projections in its 2018 budget.
Euro zone unemployment in December was revised down to 8.6 from 8.7 percent, its lowest level since more than nine years.
[Reuters]
