Greek unemployment eases to 21.7 pct in May, still eurozone’s highest

Greece’s jobless rate dropped slightly to 21.7 percent in May from an upwardly revised 21.8 percent in the previous month, statistics agency ELSTAT said on Thursday, but the rate remains the eurozone’s highest.

The seasonally adjusted data showed that the number of officially unemployed reached 1.03 million people. Hardest hit were young people aged 15 to 24 years, with their jobless rate dropping to 44.4 percent from 49.7 percent in May last year.

Greece’s jobless rate hit a record high of 27.9 percent in September 2013. It has come down from record highs but remains more than double the eurozone’s average.

Unemployment in the 19 countries sharing the euro fell to 9.1 percent in June from a downwardly revised 9.2 percent in May, reaching its lowest level since February 2009.

Greece’s economy expanded in the first three months of 2017. Economic output grew 0.4 percent compared to the final quarter of 2016.

Source: ekathimerini.com/  Reuters