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Greek unemployment hits record as poverty spreads
By The Associated Press
This article was published February 14, 2013 at 7:47 a.m.
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ATHENS, Greece — Unemployment in Greece rose to a record 27 percent in November as separate surveys Thursday showed the country remains stuck in recession and predicted nearly a third of the population would be in poverty by the end of the year.
The Statistics Agency said unemployment increased from a rate of 26.6 percent in October and 20.8 percent in November the previous year. More than 30,000 people lost their jobs in November, the agency said, with the unemployment rate accelerating from earlier in the year.
Worst affected are the young, with 61.7 percent of adults under the age of 24 without a job.
Greece is mired in the sixth year of a recession, and has been relying for nearly three years on international rescue loans to keep it afloat. In return for the bailout, the government has imposed major spending cuts and tax increases that have hammered the economy, causing an increase in poverty and forcing thousands of businesses to close.
The economy contracted a further 6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 from the previous year, the statistics agency reported Thursday. That followed annual contractions of 6.7, 6.4 and 6.7 percent in the previous three quarters of 2012.
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Jackabbott says... February 14, 2013 at 8:41 a.m.
Greece and Spain, our friends and allies, are undergoing some touth times. Yet, we throw money away on wars in the Mideast and foreign aid elsewhere. Guess they have the wrong religion, nationality or race for our tastes these days.
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