Greek unemployment falls as France debates bailout package

Greece’s unemployment dropped slightly to 16 per cent in June, a 0.6-point fall from a month earlier, the national statistics office said on Thursday.

Reuters/John Kolesidis

despite the fall in the global figure, 43.3 per cent of 15-24 year-olds were out of work, compared to 29.8 per cent last year.

Unemployment among women soared from 15.5 per cent last year to 19.9 per cent, compared to 13.2 per cent among men, up from 8.9 per cent in 2010.

More than 268,000 people had lost their jobs since last June when the rate of unemployment was 11.6 per cent, the agency says.

The government expects the economy to shrink by around five per cent this year, revising an earlier forecast of 3.5 percent, and announced another seven per cent fall in the second quarter of 2011.

France's Senate was expected to approve the country's contribution to the 160-billion-euro bailout plan on Thursday afternoon, as well as accepting President Nicolas Sarkozy's domestic austerity plan.

France will be the first country to endorse the Greek bailout. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's bid to ratify it ran into a legal challenge, which was resolved on Wednesday.