RIP Greekovery.
What little hope there may have been that bad and/or deteriorating Greek economic data had peaked in the early part of 2013 and the country was set for a long overdue "recovery" was promptly extinguished following today's latest release of the Greek May labor force survey [4].
The headline news for the broader population was ugly:
- The number of employed was 3,621,153, a decline of 14,889 from April, and down 171,356 from a year earlier
- The number of unemployed was a record high 1,381,088, an increase of 43,467 from April, and up 193,668 from a year earlier
- The unemployment rate was a record high 27.6%, up from 26.9% in April and 23.8% a year earlier
But that was the "good" news.
The bad news? Greek youth (15-24 year old) unemployment halted its decline over the past few months only to explode higher from 57.5% in April to a whopping 64.9% in May! Needless to say this is a record high, and means that two thirds of all eligible for work youths can not find a job. That this is the most combustible combination for social upheaval if not war, is well known to anyone who has opened even one history book.
[5]
Source: Elstat [4] [4]