Jobless rate stays below 10%
Unemployment back at 2009 levels, but hundreds of thousands have taken themselves off market
Provisional data from the independent Hellenic Statistics Authority (ELSTAT) showed that the unemployment rate in July was 9.9%, higher than June’s 9.5%. The latter figure is the final, downwardly revised one, with the provisional having been 9.6%. If the July figure stays below 10%, it will be the first time since May and June 2009 that the jobless rate will have been in single digits for two consecutive months. June’s figure alone was the lowest since August 2009. In July 2023, the jobless rate was 11.1%.
Once the financial crisis erupted, the unemployment rate shot up, peaking at 28.2% in July 2013.
The other side of the coin, according to experts, is that the numbers are pretty close to reaching hardcore unemployment and that further declines will be considered exceptional. ELSTAT figures show that the number of employed in July was 4,229,548, 26,303 higher than a year earlier. The unemployed, at 465,167, were 62,204 fewer than in July 2023, but 16,728 more than in June.
A comparison with 2009 figures shows that people who are either part of the workforce or actively seeking to join it has dropped significantly. Compared to August 2009, there were 30,233 fewer unemployed in July 2024, but also 322,152 fewer employed. While they are not comparable, the figures are clear: Several hundreds of thousands of people have taken themselves “off market.”
The number of people under 75 that are neither working nor seeking employment were 3,081,262, 11,693 more than in July 2023 and 26,998 more than June 2024.
If some of these people start being interested in rejoining the workforce, this would initially swell the ranks of the unemployed, experts say, but the jobless rate would gradually fall as these people gradually joined the active workforce.
Statistics confirmed, once again, the discrepancy between men and women: The unemployment rate among men was 7.8% in July and among women, 12.5%. Last July, the rates were 8.5% and 14.4%, respectively.
