Athens: Greece's jobless rate rose to a record of 21.8 per cent in January, twice as high as the Eurozone average, statistics service Elstat said yesterday, as the debt crisis and austerity measures took their toll on the labour market.
Youth unemployment remained at levels where more are jobless than in work.
Budget cuts imposed by the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a condition for saving the debt-laden country from a chaotic default have caused a wave of corporate closures and bankruptcies.
Greece's average annual unemployment rate for 2011 jumped to 17.7 per cent from 12.5 per cent in the previous year, according to Elstat figures. December's rates was 21.2 per cent.
For the second consecutive month, those aged between 15-24 years were hit hard. Unemployment in that age group stood at 50.8 per cent, twice as high as three years ago.
600,000 jobs destroyed
Greece's economy is estimated to have shrunk by about a fifth since 2008. About 600,000 jobs, more than one in 10, have been destroyed in the process.
A record 1.08 million people were without work in January, 47 per cent more than in the same month last year, according to Elstat figures. The number in work dropped 8.6 per cent to a record low of 3.88 million.
As an increasing number of people claim unemployment benefits, the government is finding it difficult to meet its budget targets.
Under the terms of its EU/IMF bailout, the country's second since 2010, Greece slashed its minimum monthly wage by about a fifth to about €580 (Dh2,802), gross, to encourage hirings.
