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Greek unemployment at six-year high

ATHENS (Bloomberg) — Greece's unemployment rate rose to a six-year high in February as the economy contracted amid tax increases and spending cuts aimed at reducing the second-biggest budget gap in the European Union.

The number of people registered without work was 605,277, or 12.1 percent of the workforce, compared with 11.3 percent in January and 9.1 percent a year earlier, the Athens-based Hellenic Statistical Authority said in a statement yesterday. That's the highest rate since January 2004, data on the authority's website showed.

Prime Minister George Papandreou said on November 20 he would cap wages for some state workers and impose a partial hiring freeze in what became a first round of measures to convince investors that the country can curb a deficit now estimated at 13.6 percent of gross domestic product. GDP shrank 0.8 percent in the first quarter of this year, its sixth straight decline, the statistics office said yesterday.

At 21.3 percent, Greece's southern Aegean region was the area with the highest unemployment rate in February, according to the statement. The jobless rate for women was 15.3 percent, 9.8 percent for men, while those aged 15 to 29 had the highest rate at 32 percent.

The government has announced three rounds of deficit-reduction moves this year, including increases in sales tax and levies on fuel, alcohol and tobacco.