Greek unemployment hit a record 22.5pc in April and may keep edging higher, with even the key tourism sector unlikely to provide more than fleeting support over the summer as visitors stay away from the recession-hit country.
Near-bankrupt Greece is dependent on aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, who have demanded spending cuts that have helped push its economy into a fifth year of recession and forced thousands of businesses to close.
The jobless rate for April was up from a revised 22pc in March, Greece's statistics service EL.STAT said on Thursday. It also marked a sharp rise from 16.2 percent in April last year.
There was one piece of slightly better news. Youth unemployment, which has more than doubled over the past three years, fell slightly in April to 51.5pc, from 52.8pc in March. Analysts said that the jobless rate could rise further, despite a brief respite thanks to the summer tourism season.
"Some temporary support may be provided over the summer months, especially from the tourism sector," said Platon Monokroussos, an economist at EFG Eurobank.
"However, given the fact that the jobless rate is a lagging indicator of broader economic activity, unemployment may not have reached its peak yet."
A separate report by the OECD showed that Greece employment rates had fallen by more than 8 percentage points since the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis.
First-quarter employment across the 34-nation OECD area stood at 64.9pc of working age people, the organisation said Thursday, or 1.6 percentage points lower than before the crisis.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said that 528 million people between the age of 15-64 were employed, or two million fewer than in the second quarter of 2008."
Only in Chile, Germany and Turkey are employment rates significantly higher today than at the onset of the crisis," an OECD statement said.
telegraph.co.uk
Near-bankrupt Greece is dependent on aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, who have demanded spending cuts that have helped push its economy into a fifth year of recession and forced thousands of businesses to close.
The jobless rate for April was up from a revised 22pc in March, Greece's statistics service EL.STAT said on Thursday. It also marked a sharp rise from 16.2 percent in April last year.
There was one piece of slightly better news. Youth unemployment, which has more than doubled over the past three years, fell slightly in April to 51.5pc, from 52.8pc in March. Analysts said that the jobless rate could rise further, despite a brief respite thanks to the summer tourism season.
"Some temporary support may be provided over the summer months, especially from the tourism sector," said Platon Monokroussos, an economist at EFG Eurobank.
"However, given the fact that the jobless rate is a lagging indicator of broader economic activity, unemployment may not have reached its peak yet."
A separate report by the OECD showed that Greece employment rates had fallen by more than 8 percentage points since the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis.
First-quarter employment across the 34-nation OECD area stood at 64.9pc of working age people, the organisation said Thursday, or 1.6 percentage points lower than before the crisis.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said that 528 million people between the age of 15-64 were employed, or two million fewer than in the second quarter of 2008."
Only in Chile, Germany and Turkey are employment rates significantly higher today than at the onset of the crisis," an OECD statement said.
telegraph.co.uk
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