According to the data published by Greek Statistics Authority ELSTAT the rate of unemployment in August was estimated to be 27.3% compared to 25.5% in August 2012. Compared to the previous month, July 2013, the rate of unemployment remained unchanged.

The rate of youth unemployment climbed to 60.6%, while the rate for the 25-34 age group climbed to 37.4%. Unemployment continues to affect women harder than men, with a 31.4% unemployment rate compared to 24.3% for men.

The highest rates of unemployment were documented in Epirus – Western Macedonia (29.7%), Macedonia – Thrace (28.5%), Attica (27.5%), Crete (27.3%), Thessaly – Central Greece (26.9%), Peloponnesus , Western Greece and Ionian Isles (25.1%) and the Aegean (23.1%).

The Statistics Authority observed that there were 3,631,430 employed, 1,365,406 unemployed and 3,360,334 non-active citizens (children, pensioners etc). ELSTAT noted that there were 88,242 fewer employed since August 2012, but 9,777 more compared to July 2013.

Similarly there were 95,326 more unemployed compared to August 2012 and 6,557 more compared to July 2013. Regarding non-active citizens, there were 620 fewer compared to August 2012 and 9,068 fewer compared to July 2013.

Rate of recession slowly begins to drop

The Statistics Authority also revealed that the rate of recession during the third trimester (July-September) of 2013 was estimated to be 3% GDP.

ELSTAT also revised its data on the GDP during the first and second trimesters of 2013, to 5.5% and 3.7%, from the initial estimations of 5.8% and 3.8% respectively. Overall, the average rate of recession in the first 9 months of the year was estimated to be 4.06%.