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Greek unemployment drops to 7.6 pct in Aug

ATHENS - Greece’s unemployment rate fell to 7.6 percent in August from 8.6 percent in the same month last year, but remained above the euro zone’s average, the statistics service (NSS) said on Thursday.

Despite stronger economic growth of 3.6 percent in the third quarter, Greece’s jobless rate is higher than the 13-member euro zone’s average -- 7.4 percent in the same month.

NSS said there were 372,090 officially unemployed in August, while an estimated 4.55 million people had jobs.

Greece’s unemployment rate has been steadily declining since 2004 when it was 10.2 percent, NSS said. The improvement was flagged by the recently re-elected conservative government as proof its economic policies are bearing fruit.

“In August there was a seasonal rise in employment due to tourism,” said NSS chief Manolis Kontopyrakis. “We must wait for quarterly data to see how the other sectors in the economy fared.”

Greek unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted.

Unemployment continued to affect women more than men. In August unemployment in the female population was 11.8 percent compared to 4.6 percent for men. It was much higher for people in the 15-24 age group -- 22.2 percent.

Greece, which traditionally issued data on a quarterly basis, began reporting monthly jobless figures this year. The data was based on a sample of 22,969 individuals, members of 9,359 households, NSS said.