With a rising unemployment rate, Greeceās numbers continue to climb reaching 27.6 percent in July, in comparison with a revised 27.5 percent a month earlier.
The national statistical authority reports that 1.36 million people were jobless in July, a ten percent increase from last year. They also reported youth unemployment at 55.1 percent.
The conservative-led government expects modest job growth next year, but even with an improvement, the unemployment rate is predicted to remain high, averaging 26 percent, compared to 27 percent this year.
In a report published on Wednesday, the IMF said Greece will need to adopt new austerity measures in the ballpark of 6.7 billion euros from 2014 to 2016 in order to meet the target set for fiscal adjustments. This surpasses the foreseen agreement between Athens and its creditors by 2.6 billion euros-an agreement made for additional interventions in 2015-2016, and no provision was made for new measures next year.
The government forecasts that the economy will start to grow again next year.Ā Although growth will be slight at 0.6 percent, it would still mark the first average annual growth since 2007.
The GSEE (General Confederation of Greek Workers) has painted a grim picture with an expectation of unemployment to exceed 30 percent in coming years.
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