Greek Unemployment Rate Hits Record 21.7 Percent Amid Political Turmoil

* Unemployment at record 21.7 pct in February

* Nearly 1.1 million out of a job, most in big cities

* Record 54 pct of young people without work

ATHENS, May 10 (Reuters) - Greece's jobless rate hit a new record in February, underscoring the pain austerity policies required by the EU and IMF have inflicted on the debt-laden country which is struggling to form a government.

More than one in five Greeks and one in two youths are out of a job, statistics service ELSTAT data showed on Thursday. The unemployment rate hit 21.7 percent from a revised 21.3 percent in January. In the 15-24 age group, joblessness stood at a record 54 percent.

Budget cuts imposed since 2010 under the terms of the country's international bailout to save Greece from a chaotic default have caused a wave of corporate closures and bankruptcies.

This has fuelled anger with established, pro-bailout political parties, which suffered a stinging defeat in May 6 elections that created a hung parliament in which half the seats went to anti-bailout groups.

Nearly 1.1 million people were without a job, 42 percent more than in the same month last year, the data showed. The number of those in work declined by 8 percent over the same period to a record low 3.87 million.

Joblessness was the highest in the country's biggest urban centres, particularly Athens, where the anti-bailout Left Coalition party (SYRIZA) fared particularly well in the elections, becoming the biggest party.

Greece's economy is estimated to shrink by about 20 percent in 2008-2012, marking the country's deepest and longest post-war recession. More than 500,000 jobs, about in 10, have been destroyed in the process.

Comments

[strykerthree]

10:57 AM on 05/11/2012

Austerity GOOD................... Socialism BAD

[Siebenstein]

06:01 AM on 05/11/2012

Go bancrupt---nothing will happen.

[Full of Smarm]

12:11 AM on 05/11/2012

Shocker.

[steviebb3]

04:28 PM on 05/10/2012

And so the new party is talking about not paying their debts which means they might get kicked out of the Euro system making it even worse for them. When added to the fact that Greece got to this point because it's citizens don't believe in paying their taxes, they are going to devolve to a third world country in very short order... and deservedly so.
On the upside, vacations in Greece will be dirt cheap if the violence stops.

[Roelvdwegen]

01:00 PM on 05/10/2012

I would suggest everyone take a look at the Spanish town of Marinaleda. Unemployment there is 1.2%

[hoperequired]

12:12 PM on 05/10/2012

Too many people in Greece employed by the government and unions, and because of all their riots, tourists are afraid to travel to Greece, so the tourist industry has tanked. Ask ANY store operator or self employed person in Greece!

[strykerthree]

10:59 AM on 05/11/2012

My wife and I were planning a trip there and decided not to go because og the riots. Maybe in a few years we will go but not right now.

[withonor]

12:08 PM on 05/10/2012

Maybe if Mitt Romney gets elected he'll export some U.S. jobs to Greece to help them out. It's too bad they don't have any money to give to his super pacs.

On a more serious note, conservatives are pushing the exact same agenda that Greece used. We have real, physical and current evidence of where that path leads, but once again they show their distaste for facts.

[strykerthree]

11:02 AM on 05/11/2012

You FOOL, the agenda you and progressives like you want will make us like Greece. So conservatives are pushing Unions and Government programs these days? What do you actually think got Greece to where they are at? Socialism and Progressive ideology. WOW are you a lost soul.

[withonor]

11:32 AM on 05/11/2012

I'm not lost, this is what reality looks like when you turn off faux news. First of all, no one is pushing for socialism in the U.S. Do you know what that word means? Secondly, what is making Greece's unemployment skyrocket is what conservatives are doing here. Our unemployment would be 7,1% if not for the conservative agenda to make the working class mimic a third world country.

But please keep voting against your own self interest. That's what freedom feels like.

[bave]

12:01 PM on 05/10/2012

Ah karma.

So, the Greeks are pissed because the government is forced to cut spending. Ok, why? The Greek government is forced to cut spending because they don't have any more money to spend, nor can they get it.

No one will loan the money. No one in the country pays any taxes, let alone anywhere near the rate they would need to in order to sustain their joke of entitlement policies, and their country has no real economic base.

The thing is a pig. The only thing of value is the Greek islands and some historic cites, which are now largely owned by the Germans anyway.

[Group 8807]

11:45 AM on 05/10/2012

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told parliament Thursday, the structural reforms supporting austerity measures are the only way for Europe to survive the current debt crisis proving that she is smarter than any liberal or socialist.

[dizmo4]

12:31 PM on 05/10/2012

Except when the high unemployment leads to riots and collapse of governments and ultimately the breakup of the EU.

[Group 8807]

12:48 PM on 05/10/2012

The answer is not to eliminate any future hope with more crushing debt.

Of course, to a politician (and a liberal) the future is now.

[whitemale08]

10:11 AM on 05/10/2012

Greece should now be supported in this difficult time going forward.

No longer would aiding them be a waste because they are making it clear that the banksters can go-fly-a-kite and that there will be no more austerity and yes we will take TBTF into RECEIVERSHIP.

That means Greece should partner themselves with China and Russia and join them in building MASSIVE development projects in both Latin America and Africa.

That will create new state sponsored companies with the "physical assets" to back pension funds and create wonderful career opportunities for out-of-work engineers and labor today.

It will still be very very painful but the sacrifices of rebuilding a real economy is worth it.

[Group 8807]

11:37 AM on 05/10/2012

Liberals dig a deep hole with entitlement spending. When the bills come due, there solution is to spend more money.

Foolish doesn't even begin to describe liberalism.

[Group 8807]

11:46 AM on 05/10/2012

their solution

[withonor]

11:59 AM on 05/10/2012

Back in reality, Medicare and Social Security are paid for with separate tax lines on everyone's paycheck. Meanwhile the $700,000,000,000 (Seven hundred billion dollars) defense department we have makes bigger messes than it fixes and isn't paid for. And the conservative flunkies pair ridiculous spending with tax cuts for the wealthy, which is another form of spending without a pay for.

So, get your head out of the faux hole and join us in reality. Facts are healthy.

[bave]

11:59 AM on 05/10/2012

Wow, are you from earth?

Who would support Greece? They are currently refusing to pay their bills, yet you think someone would loan them more money? What do they bring to the table? Nothing. A bad culture, a terrible work ethic, no meaningful skillsets, and no resources.

The Chinese and Russians don't partner with people like that, in fact, no one does.

Get real. The country is broken because of their entitlement ideas, lack of work ethic, and complete abandonment of responsibility.

Screw em', let it sink into the ocean.

[satyrday]

09:35 AM on 05/10/2012

Repubs know that when your car runs out of gas, you just get rid of the car.

[satyrday]

09:34 AM on 05/10/2012

They obviously need to cut more government jobs, right clueless repubs?

[relee2012]

10:10 AM on 05/10/2012

What would they pay them with? Last months baklava?

[Group 8807]

11:40 AM on 05/10/2012

If the economy is good, clueless liberals tell us we need to grow government and increase entitlement spending because it is the "moral" thing to do.

If the economy is bad, clueless liberals tell us we need to grow government and increase spending to "spend" ourselves out of a recession.

If liberal programs fail (and they always do) it is because government was too small and didn't spend enough to be successful. Their answer is to grow government and increase spending even more.

Do you see a pattern? There is one answer to solve any problem if you ask a liberal, grow government and increase spending.

Does anyone else see a problem with that? satyrday doesn't.

[satyrday]

12:10 PM on 05/10/2012

Look at history for the last 40 years, and you'll find that every repub outspends and grows the government more than every dem.

So your premise fails before you can even start your argument.

Try again.

[tlrdevel]

03:14 PM on 05/10/2012

Fanned

[Cage me]

09:34 AM on 05/10/2012

No way... didn't see this one coming...

[derealest]

09:24 AM on 05/10/2012

I am going right out to support the Greeks and buy feta, some olives, pepperocini. put it on my foodstamp card, call a friend on my free gubment phone and have a party. mmmmmmm fair and forward.....yummy.