Unemployment droppedto 18 pct in December

Greece’s jobless rate dropped to 18 percent in December from a downwardly revised 18.3 percent in the previous month, data from the country’s statistics service ELSTAT showed on Thursday.

December’s unemployment rate was the lowest reading since July 2011.

Seasonally adjusted data showed the number of unemployed at 851,556 people, with younger persons aged up to 24 bearing the brunt of being out of work.

Among 15- to 24-year-olds, the jobless rate fell to 39.5 percent from 43.1 percent in the same month in 2017.

Greece’s unemployment rate, which hit a record high of 27.8 percent in September 2013, has been coming down since but remains the highest in the eurozone.

The government expects the jobless rate to decline to 18.2 percent this year as the economy recovers, based on projections in its 2019 budget.

[Reuters]