Greek unemployment inches up at the end of 2018

ATHENS, Greece – Greece’s unemployment rate — the highest in the 28-country European Union — climbed slightly to 18.7 per cent in the final quarter of 2018.

However, it’s still way down where it was a year earlier.

The Greek statistical authority said Thursday that 881,000 people were jobless in October-December 2018, 1.1 per cent higher than the previous three-month period. Compared to the year before, it’s 12.5 per cent lower.

Unemployment was highest in the 15-19 age range, at 52.7 per cent.

At its highest point during Greece’s eight-year financial crisis, 28 per cent of the Greek workforce was out of work, a post-war record.

Thursday’s figures show one-in-two unemployed in Greece have been out of work for at least two years. Those out of work for more than a year don’t get unemployment benefits.