Greek jobless rate slows to 16pc in June: state agency

ATHENS: The unemployment rate in recession-mired Greece slowed to 16.0 percent in June, a 0.6-point fall from a month earlier, the national statistics office said on Thursday.

But prospects for the country's 15-24 age bracket remain bleak with 43.3 percent out of work, compared to 29.8 percent last year.

The agency said that more than 268,000 people had lost their jobs since last June when the rate of unemployment was 11.6 percent

And there were over 793,000 people on jobless lists in June.

Unemployment among women soared from 15.5 percent last year to 19.9 percent, compared to 13.2 percent among men, up from 8.9 percent in 2010.

Greece is trapped in a deepening recession as its government struggles to slash a deficit over three times the allowed EU level and reduce a debt of around 350 billion euros ($492 billion).

Greek unions have repeatedly warned that tough austerity measures adopted against the deficit will strangle the economy and bring Spanish-style unemployment of around 20 percent this year.

The government expects the economy to shrink by around five percent this year, revising an earlier forecast of 3.5 percent.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011