Unemployment in Greece Falls to 10.8%

In May, the unemployment rate in Greece fell to 10.8% according to data released by the  Hellenic Statistical Authority on Friday.

The newly released statistics are generally consistent with a trend toward lower unemployment in Greece over the past few years. This trend is undoubtedly welcomed by many Greeks who remember the high unemployment rate that developed during the financial crisis.

According to data collected between 2011 and 2021, most Greek workers are employed in the agriculture, industry, and service sectors.

Unemployment in Greece on a downward trend, according to stats

According to data released by the Hellenic Statistical Authority, Greece witnessed a decline in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, which dropped to 10.8% in May from the previously revised 11.3% recorded in April.

In May, the number of unemployed individuals amounted to 506,184, showing a decline of 23,861 compared to the previous month. Concurrently, employment witnessed an increase of 45,901, reaching a total of 4.18 million in May

During the same month of the previous year, the unemployment rate was recorded at 12.7%.

The unemployment rate for women remains twice as high as that of men, with rates of 14.4% and 7.9% respectively.

There was a significant decrease in the unemployment rate among young individuals aged 15 to 24 years, dropping to 24% in comparison to the corresponding month in the previous year, which stood at 32.7%.

Data on joblessness

The data released this week by the Hellenic Statistical Authority fits in with a broader trend of falling unemployment in Greece over the past few years.

Back in 2019, another report by the Hellenic Statistical Authority revealed that unemployment in the country had fallen to 16.9% during the second quarter of 2019, the lowest level since 2011.

Statistics released in early 2020, then revealed that the unemployment rate had fallen further to 16.5% in November 2019.

Greece’s unemployment rate fell further according to data released by the Hellenic Statistical Authority in February 2022. The data revealed that joblessness fell to 12.8% in December 2021, marking a significant decline over December 2020’s 13.4% and November 2020’s 15.5%.

The current rate of joblessness at 10.8% is down quite considerably from the figure given in December last year at 12.4%.

Employment in Greece

Data from Statista provides some insights into the distribution of the Greek workforce across various key sectors of the economy.

According to the most recent data from 2021 made available by Statista, 73.37% of the workforce that year was employed in services, 15.28% was in industry, and 11.36% was in agriculture.

More broadly, the Greek economy is projected to grow. In April, the Bank of Greece projected that the Greek economy is expected to grow by 2.2% in 2023, and the inflation rate is set to fall to 4.4%, with the state budget expected to record a primary surplus of 0.7%.