Unemployment

The Greek residential property market will not recover before 2019, when prices are expected to rise by just 0.8 percent on an annual basis, according to the latest yearly survey by Eurobank Property Services.

Over 407,000 new jobs were created between Jan. 1 and March 27 in Turkey, a top official has said, adding that around 1 million new jobs were expected to be offered by June. 

In a speech in Ankara on March 28, Labor Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu said that more than 407,000 new jobs were created since the beginning of 2017. 

Four in 10 Greek businesses (40.3 percent) consider it likely that they will have to close shop within the year, according to a survey by the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants (GSEVEE), presented by the ANA-MPA news agency on Thursday.

Turkey's unemployment rate hit 10.9 percent in 2016 with a 0.6 percent of increase compared to the previous year, continuing its double-digit trend, official data showed on March 23. 

The unemployment rate in 2015 saw double digits for the first time since 2010.

The year has started with some alarm bells regarding the course of consumer spending, generating concern not only about the impact on the supermarket sector and industry, but also on the economy in general.

Some 357,000 new jobs were created between Jan. 1 and March 20 in Turkey, said a top official, adding that the rising unemployment rate would decrease by May or June. 

"By the yearend, the unemployment will drop to single digits," said Labor Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu in a televised interview on Kanal 24, as reported by Reuters on March 21. 

Latin America's largest economy Brazil has contracted by 3.6 percent in 2016, shrinking for the second year in a row; statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday. It confirmed the country is facing its longest and deepest recession in recorded history.

The number of people registered as unemployed at Greece's Manpower Organization (OAED) rose by about 6,000 in February to almost 1.1 million at the end of the month, a dramatic rate which is expected to continue until at least the end of 2017. This trend corresponds with the rise seen in the quarterly jobless rate late last year.

March 15 was a very interesting day, or at least it was for me. The Netherlands held general elections, and the Turkish Institute of Statistics (TÜİK) released its Bulletin of Unemployment. I think it proved to be a day of glory for the Dutch, and despair for Turks. The Islamophobic Geert Wilders was sidelined by Dutch voters, who have turned up at a record 85 percent.

Greece's jobless rate rose to 23.6 percent in October-to-December from 22.6 percent in the third quarter, data from the country's statistics service showed on Thursday.

About 71.8 percent of Greece's 1.12 million jobless are long-term unemployed, meaning they have been out of work for at least 12 months, the figures showed.