As Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ coalition government is set to unleash more pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions on beleaguered Greeks, there was new evidence that the austerity measures have backfired with a report showing the country’s jobless rate has soared to a new record of 24.4 percent.
That came as bad news to the government, as Samaras faces resistance from his reluctant partners, the PASOK Socialists and Democratic Left, to impose more harsh conditions in a desperate bid to keep the sinking economy afloat and for international rescue loans to keep coming.
The last report in May showed 23.5 percent unemployment but the dire figures set yet another ignominious record. There are nearly two million people out of work amidst fears that the new round of austerity demanded by the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) will put more people on the streets.
The Troika also reportedly wants Greece’s private sector employees to work six days a week to try to increase the country’s competitiveness, a proposal that came as the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index ranked Greece last in the EU and 90th in the world among 142 countries survived. In some key categories, Greece ranks as low as 140th, making unlikely Samaras’ hopes that the country can grow its way out of a crushing economic crisis and get out from under $383 billion in debt and a 9.3 percent deficit.
There was no initial report on what the unemployment rate was for those under-25, which was a record 54.9 percent, and as many young Greeks are fleeing their homeland to find work and a better life elsewhere. Samaras is also facing growing social unrest over austerity, with police unionists battling riot police, professionals in the public sector protesting planned new pay cuts, doctors on work slowdowns and joining pharmacists in refusing to accept state insurance because they have not been paid for months.
(Sources: Reuters, Kathimerini, AP)
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