Jobless rate cannot show real picture

The unprecedented consequences of the pandemic have also affected the quality of unemployment statistics, according to the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), which on Thursday said the jobless rate had dropped to 16.7% in April-June from 16.9% a year earlier.

ELSTAT admitted that the measures the government has taken to contain the impact of the health crisis – with thousands of workers having had their contracts suspended, reducing employment and work hours, while remote working has increased – have affected not only the labor market but also the authority’s data collection. Consequently the picture is somewhat uncertain at the moment, and when it does clear, the actual impact of the pandemic on unemployment may well be shocking.

The ELSTAT figures issued on Thursday showed that, during the quarter of the lockdown, the jobless figure came to 768,276 people, which was down 4.6% from the same quarter in 2019 but up 3.1% from the first quarter of the year, when the unemployment rate had stood at 16.2%.

The total number of people employed reached 3,844,034, down 2.8% year-on-year.