Unemployment Rate At 16.3% In Q2 2011
The Greek Statistical Authority said that unemployment rate was 16.3% in the second quarter of 2011, compared with 15.9% in the previous quarter, and 11.8% in the corresponding quarter of 2010.
According to a report, in the 2nd Quarter of 2011 the number of employed amounted to 4,156,336 persons while the number of unemployed amounted to 810,821.
The number of employed persons decreased by 0.9% compared with the previous quarter, and by 6.1% compared with the 2nd Quarter of 2010. The number of unemployed persons increased by 2.3% compared with the previous quarter and by 36.5% compared with the 2nd Quarter of 2010.
The unemployment rate for females (20.0%) is considerably higher than the unemployment rate for males (13.7%).
The highest unemployment rate is recorded among young people in the age group of 15-29 years (32.9%). For young females, the unemployment rate is 38.3%.
90.1% of unemployed persons are looking for a full time job as employees. More specifically, 50.2% of those looking for job as employees are looking exclusively for a full time job, while 42.1% are looking for full time job, but, if needed, would accept to work part time.
A significant part of the unemployed persons (6.7%) did not accept a job offer, during the 2nd Quarter of 2011, because of various reasons. The main reasons reported were:
a) the location of the job was not suitable (27.9%),
b) the wage was not satisfactory (26.5%),
c) the working hours were not convenient (16.4%).
The percentage of the “new” unemployed, that is the percentage of persons who entered for the first time labour market, is 24.6%. We should note that the percentage of the “long term” unemployed, that is the percentage of persons that have been looking for a job for more than 1 year (irrespectively of being “new” or “old” unemployed), is 50.9%.
The unemployment rate is higher for persons of foreign nationality (18.0%) compared with those of Greek nationality (16.2%). On the contrary, the percentage of the economically active persons with foreign nationality is much higher than the corresponding percentage for persons of Greek nationality (73.0% compared to 51.8%).
The geographical areas with the highest unemployment rate are West Macedonia (23.1%) and East Macedonia and Thrace (20.7%). The lowest unemployment rates are observed in Peloponnese (13.1%) and Crete (13.4%).
During the 2nd Quarter of 2011, 81,118 persons who were unemployed one year ago found a job. During the same period, 42,467 persons who were inactive one year ago, got into employment. On the contrary, 184,188 persons who were working one year ago, during the 2nd Quarter of 2011 are unemployed and 100,573 persons, who were working, are now inactive. In addition, 100,351 persons who were inactive one year ago, during the 2nd Quarter of 2011 entered labour market and are searching for a job.
Examining changes in employment by different sector of economic activity, there was a decrease in employment in all sectors, compared to the 2nd Quarter of 2010 . In the primary sector the decrease was 7.6%, in the secondary 16.5%) and the tertiary sector 2.8%
The percentage of part time employment is low and amounts to 6.4% of the total of the employed. The percentage of part timers who choose to work part time because they cannot find a full time job is 57.1%, while 5.5% choose a part time job because they are looking after children or incapacitated adults.
The percentage of employees is estimated at 63.7% of the total of the employed persons and is by far lower than the mean percentage of employees in the European Union which is 80%.
(capital.gr)