Greece | Unemployment hits a new record at 25.4 pc, youth hits 58pc

Greece’s jobless rate rose for a 39th consecutive month to a new record of 25.4 percent in August, more than double the euro zone average, Greece’s statistics service ELSTAT said on Thursday.

A crippling, austerity-fuelled recession continued to take its toll on the labor market, putting Greek unemployment at more than double the euro zone average of 11.5 percent.

The jobless rate has more than tripled since the country’s five-year economic slump began in 2008. It now stands at 58 percent for those aged between 15 and 24 years, compared with 20 percent in August 2008…

Choosen excerpts by JMM from

via Greek unemployment hits 25.4 percent in Aug, new record | Reuters.

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Who will stop the Sado-Monetarists as jobless youth hits 58pc in Greece?

Under the official forecast, the economy will contract by a further 4.5pc next year, so it fair to assume that lots more people are going to lose their jobs. It is certainly not going to improve in any meaningful way for years to come.

This is what happens when you lock into the wrong currency and block the escape routes – or join a “burning building with no exits” in the words of William Hague.

Even if Greeks comply with all demands, public debt will reach 179pc of GDP next year. Perhaps there will be some sort of formula to cut debt service costs by shaving 50 basis points off interest on rescue loans, and persuading the ECB to forgo “profits” on its estimated €40 billion holdings of Greek bonds (though unrealised profits would seem be courting fate).

Yet it is hard to see how the salary and pension cuts, etc, pushed through the Greek parliament last night with enormous difficulty can do any more than buy a few months’ delay. The protests on Wednesday bordered on urban guerrilla warfare. It will not take much to cross that line.

Even if the EMU machine succeeds in keeping Greece in the system, is this any longer a remotely desirable goal? Has it not become a vicious and immoral policy in itself?…

Choosen excerpts by JMM from

via Who will stop the Sado-Monetarists as jobless youth hits 58pc in Greece? – Telegraph Blogs.