Covid-19 Drives Greece Joblessness to 1m in July

Despite opening up to tourism in July, Greece saw its unemployment rate soar by an additional 125,000 people to more than 1 million compared to the same month in 2019, the country’s Manpower Employment Organization (OAED) said this week attributing the rise to the coronavirus pandemic.

More specifically, a total of 1.09 million people in Greece are currently without a job, 147,000 of whom receiving unemployment benefits.

Overall, the total number of unemployed seeking a job in July came to 1,040,852 people, 537,029 of whom (51.60 percent) listed on OAED records for a period of at least 12 months. A total of 503,823 people are registered for under 12 months with men accounting for 34.93 percent of the total and women 65.07 percent.

According to the same data, the number of unemployed receiving benefits for July came to 147,524 people, 84.20 percent of whom are regularly employed and 15.80 percent seasonal tourism professionals with males accounting for 44.98 percent and females 55.02 percent.

Of the total receiving unemployment benefits, 77.06 percent are regularly employed, 1.88 percent construction workers, 15.80 percent seasonal tourism professionals, 2.69 percent seasonal farming workers, 2.23 percent teachers, and 0.34 percent others.

Earlier this year, OAED said it would be supporting seasonal workers in tourism who will not be hired this year due to Covid-19.