Jobless numbers steady
Greece’s unemployment rate in October was 7.7 percent, unchanged from the previous month, as jobless figures in the country’s north remain high, data showed yesterday. Economists see the figure rising in coming months due to decelerating demand growth and a slowdown in the industrial and construction sectors. Data from the National Statistics Service (NSS) showed the unemployment rate unchanged from September, but stubbornly above the EU-27 average of 7.1 percent. Joblessness remains high for younger people – 21.2 percent for those in the 15-24 age group in October and 10.5 percent for those aged 25-34. The unemployment rate in eastern and western Macedonia, northern Greece, was at 10.7 percent. The government projects unemployment will average 7.5 percent in 2009, unchanged from this year. The NSS said there were about 367,204 people officially unemployed in October, while an estimated 4.6 million had jobs.
