Three out of four jobless in Greece are at least 12 months without work

Unemployed Greeks wait in a long line at a state labour office to collect benefit checks, in Athens. Photo: AP/Thanassis Stavrakis

Greece’s unemployment rate has started climbing again.

The unemployment rate started climbing again in the last quarter of 2014, putting an end to a period of moderate decline.

The jobless reached 26.1 per cent of the work force in October-December 2014 due to the political and economic uncertainty generated by the prospect of the elections and the change in government, Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) figures showed this week.

That rate compares to 25.5 per cent in the third quarter of the year, but is below the rate recorded a year earlier (27.8 per cent). The number of unemployed in the last quarter of 2014 reached 1,245,854 people.

The ELSTAT survey also found that eight out of 10 jobless Greeks are so desperate to find work that they are prepared to take any job offered to them as the rate of long-term unemployed (those out of work for at least 12 months) is continuing to grow, reaching 73 per cent against 72 per cent a year earlier.

Source: Kathimerini