ECONOMY

January unemployment at 18.5 pct, lowest since July 2011

January unemployment at 18.5 pct, lowest since July 2011

Greece’s jobless rate rose to 18.5 percent in January from an upwardly revised 18.4 percent in the previous month, data from the country’s statistics service ELSTAT showed on Thursday.

January’s unemployment rate was the lowest reading since July 2011.

Seasonally adjusted data showed the number of unemployed at 872,678 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 fell to 39.7 percent from 41.9 percent in the same month in 2018.

Greece’s jobless rate, which hit a record high of 27.8 percent in September 2013, has been coming down since but remains the highest in the euro zone.

The government expects unemployment to decline to 18.2 percent this year as the economy recovers, based on projections in its 2019 budget.

Greece’s economy shrank slightly in October-to-December after expanding for nine consecutive quarters.

[Reuters]

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