Jobless rate finally reined in

It appears that last year closed on a very positive note for the domestic labor market, as November was the second month in a row that unemployment was estimated by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) in single digits, at 9.4%.

In fact, although the rate remained unchanged compared to October 2023, government officials have every reason to be satisfied since such a rate had not been seen since June 2009, i.e. over 14 years ago.

A year earlier, in November 2022, the unemployment rate was at 11.9%, which proves that within a year there was a significant reduction by 2.5 percentage points in one of the most important and thorny problems of the Greek economy.

The unemployment rate has been moving steadily downwards since last April, that is for seven months: From 11.6% in April 2023, unemployment fell to 11.2% a month later. Then for two months (June-July) it stabilized at 11%, to drop below the psychological barrier of 11% in August, falling to 10.6%, and further in September, when it was estimated at 10.1%. In October, for the first time after 14 years, it fell to a single-digit rate, registering a significant decrease to reach 9.4%, a rate that was also maintained in November.

The issue of unemployment is neither easy nor one-dimensional and in November the employed decreased compared to October 2023 and increased marginally from November 2022: According to ELSTAT data, the employed in November reached 4,161,930 people, marking an increase of 0.3%, which corresponds to 12,025 people, in relation to November 2022. In relation to a month before, i.e. in October 2023, the employed decreased by 2.1% or 87,722 people.

As for the unemployed, they came to 429,806 people, marking a decrease of 130,997 people compared to November 2022 (-23.4%) and by 12,156 compared to October 2023 (-2.8%).

Unemployment was higher among women, remaining at a double-digit rate, namely at 11.7%, compared to 7.5% among men.