Greek unemployment rises to 17.0% in April, youth hardest hit

Greece’s jobless rate rose to 17.0% in April from an upwardly revised 16.8% in the previous month, data from statistics service ELSTAT showed on Wednesday.

Seasonally adjusted data showed 762,553 were officially unemployed, with those aged under 24 the hardest hit.

Among those aged 15 to 24, the jobless rate rose to 46.8% from 33.6% in the same month in 2020. Greece’s jobless rate, which hit a record high of 27.8% in September 2013, has been falling but remains the highest in the euro zone.

Joblessness affected women more than men, with the respective rates in April at 21.4% and 13.6%, the data showed.

Greece’s economy showed resilience in this year’s first quarter, expanding at a faster pace compared to the last quarter of 2020, helped by investments.

On an annual basis it shrank at a 2.3% clip in the first quarter, at a slower pace from a downwardly revised 6.9% decline in the previous quarter.

The European Commission raised its latest forecast for Greece’s economic growth this year to 4.1% from 3.5%. It projects unemployment at 16.3% in 2021, easing to 16.1% in 2022.