Greek unemployment falls below 20 pct in May

Greece’s jobless rate dipped marginally to 19.5 percent in May from 20 percent the previous month, data from the country’s statistics service ELSTAT showed on Thursday.

Seasonally adjusted data showed the number of unemployed at 924,941 people, with younger persons aged up to 24 bearing the brunt of being out of work. Women were also the highest percentage of the jobless, at 24.1 percent compared to 15.8 percent for men.

Among younger persons aged 15 to 24, the jobless rate eased to 39.7 percent from 44 percent in the same month in 2017.

Greece’s jobless rate, which hit a record high of 27.9 percent in September 2013, has been coming down since but remains the highest in the euro zone, where the average unemployment rate was 8.5 percent in April.

May's unemployment rate is the lowest recorded since September 2011. 

The government expects the unemployment rate to fall to 18.4 percent this year, based on projections in its 2018 budget.