Greek unemployment rate jumps to 14.8 percent in December as financial crisis deepens

Greece’s unemployment rate climbed for a sixth month in December, increasing more than economists estimated as it extended a record high.
The unemployment rate rose to 14.8 percent from 13.9 percent in November, the Hellenic Statistical Authority said today in an e-mailed statement from Athens.
The total number of jobless was 733,645, as the economy lost 73,290 jobs compared with November and 223,893 jobs from a year earlier. The unemployment rate for those under age 24 reached 39 percent. Unemployment was worst in the Ionian Islands, where the rate was 23.1 percent.
Greece’s economy contracted 4.5 percent last year as the recession, now entering its third year, was exacerbated by austerity measures implemented in exchanged for a 110 billion- euro ($153 billion) bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The EU and the IMF forecast that unemployment will average 14.6 percent this year as the economy contracts 3 percent.

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