Greek unemployment rate fell to 16.7 pct of the workforce in August

The Greek unemployment rate fell to 16.7 pct of the workforce in August this year, down from 18.9 pct in August 2018 and 16.9 pct in July 2019, Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Thursday. The statistics service, in a monthly report, said the number of unemployed people totaled 788,287, down 110,162 from August 2018 and down 9,932 from July. The number of employed people in the country totaled 3,922,523, up 69,892 from August 2018 and up 10,386 from July 2019.

The unemployment rate among women was 20.7 pct in August, from 23.6 pct in August last year, while among men it fell to 13.6 pct from 15.1 pct, respectively. The 15-24 age group recorded the highest unemployment rate (33.1 pct in August, 37.6 pct in August 2018), followed by the 25-34 age group (22.4 pct from 24.5 pct), the 35-44 age group (14.8 pct from 17 pct), the 45-54 age group (13.7 pct from 15.7 pct), the 55-64 age group (13.3 pct form 15 pct) and the 65-74 age group (10.8 pct from 10 pct). Among the country's regions, Thessaly-Central Greece (21.7 pct in August from 18.5 pct in August last year) recorded the highest unemployment rate, followed by Epirus-West Macedonia (20.5 pct from 23 pct), Macedonia-Thrace (18.1 pct from 19.3 pct), Peloponnese-West Greece-Ionian Islands (16.9 pct from 19.2 pct), Attica (16 pct from 19.6 pct), Aegean (15.2 pct from 18.3 pct) and Crete (11.4 pct from 13 pct).