Greek unemployment hits new record

Greece's jobless rate hit a new record in December as austerity policies to slash deficits led to a deeper recession and more job cuts, with more than a third of the workforce aged 24 and under out of work, data showed. The unemployment rate jumped to 14.8 percent, from 13.9 percent in November and 10.2 percent in December 2009, figures from statistics service ELSTAT showed, the highest reading since Greece started compiling monthly data in 2004.
Employment is suffering as Greece's 230 billion euro economy bears its deepest recession in almost 40 years, hurt by higher indirect taxes and cuts in public sector pay and pensions to shore up state finances and meet the terms of a 110 billion euro EU/IMF bailout.
A record 733,645 people were officially without work in December, a 45.2 percent year-on-year increase and a 5.9 percent rise from November. The number of employed shrank 5.0 percent or by 223,893 people to 4,233,764, according to ELSTAT. The European Union expects unemployment to average out at 14.6 percent this year and hit 14.8 percent in 2012.