Registered jobless soar anew in November
The number of registered unemployed soared by more than 95,000 in November, largely due to many tourism businesses closing for the winter, with statistics showing that very few people will receive the Labor Ministry’s extraordinary handout for young jobless Greeks who do not get unemployment benefits.
The state’s Manpower Organization (OAED) announced on Wednesday that the number of jobless registered with the service has topped 1 million: It rose by 95,575 within a month, reaching 1,043,482.
Of that total, 864,778 have declared to OAED that they are seeking work, while the remaining 178,704 have given up trying to find a job.
The significant increase recorded in November is mostly attributed to the gradual tapering off of the tourism season, illustrating the seasonal element of employment in Greece. Therefore October and November traditionally see a sharp rise in unemployed people registering with OAED. In November 2016 the number of people registered as jobless reached 1,066,416.
Last month also saw an increase in the number of jobless receiving unemployment benefits: The figure rose by 25,864 or 26.59 percent to 123,132, from 97,268 in October 2017.
As the Association for Social and Labor Rights (OKED) notes, the number of registered unemployed should have been much higher, but the terms and conditions for subsidizing seasonal unemployment have become much stricter since 2013.
OAED figures also point to a significant conclusion regarding the decision by the Labor Ministry to issue an extraordinary handout of 400 euros to each jobless person aged 18-24 who does not get an unemployment benefit but was registered with OAED on October 31: The measure will only concern just 7 percent of all people registered, while the long-term unemployed (those without a job for over 12 months) account for 51.29 percent of all those registered, numbering 535,278. Having exceeded the 12-month benefits period, the latter are not entitled to any financial support by the state.
