Unemployment

A survey undertaken jointly by the National Documentation Center, the Hellenic Statistical Authority and the Greek Exporters Association (SEVE) in July provides a telling picture of the Greek labor market, showing that 63% of businesses are looking for employees.

Provisional data from the independent Hellenic Statistics Authority (ELSTAT) showed that the unemployment rate in July was 9.9%, higher than June's 9.5%. The latter figure is the final, downwardly revised one, with the provisional having been 9.6%.

Authorities are preparing to launch a program under which jobless people are hired to work three days a week in public institutions in a bid to address the unemployment problem.

In the first month of the program, those people will receive training at public institutions in different fields.

A rare incident recently occurred in Australia, where a man who has been receiving unemployment benefits since 2019 was found with an inexplicably large amount of expensive assets.

Among the items found in his possession were a blue Lamborghini Huracan, in the Blue Cepheus shade, a Harley Davidson V-Rod in the same color, and two Rolex watches. All these items were confiscated.

The significant intervention in the way social benefits, including unemployment benefits, are provided will be a key focus of Kyriakos Mitsotakis‘ address at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) the weekend a

Türkiye's total machinery exports, including free zones, amounted to $15.8 billion in the January-July period, according to the Machinery Exporters Association (MAİB) on Monday.

The decline of 2.2 percent compared to the same period last year was calculated as 0.9 percent for the exports in the previous 12 months, which reached $27.8 billion.

The success of vocational education, whose graduates are quickly absorbed by the labor market, is also an indicator of the importance that alternative post-secondary education should acquire.

The proliferation of degrees that are useless and without prestige was always driven by clientelistic motives, victimizing graduates who ended up unemployed. 

In July, Bulgaria saw a slight decrease in unemployment, with the rate dropping to 5.4%, according to a report from the Employment Agency (EA). This figure represents a reduction from the previous month's rate of 5.3%, when 150,990 people were unemployed. By the end of July, the total number of unemployed individuals had risen to 152,844.

The global youth unemployment rate reached a 15-year-old low of 13% in 2023, lower than the pre-pandemic year of 2019 (13.8%), according to the International Labor Organization. In Greece, the rate was 22.3%.

However, the ILO is worried about the precarity of many of the jobs those aged 15-24 find and which contributes to high anxiety levels.

Global youth unemployment is at its lowest level for 15 years, the United Nations said on Monday, though not all regions have yet recovered from the COVID-19 slump.

The number of 15- to 24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) is concerning, the U.N.'s labor agency said, adding that the post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery has not been universal in all regions.