In the 2nd Quarter of 2014 the number of employed amounted to 3,539,085 persons while the number of unemployed amounted to 1.280.101. The unemployment rate was 26.6% compared with 27.8% in the previous quarter, and 27.3% in the corresponding quarter of 2013. The number of employed persons increased by 1.6% compared with the previous quarter, and by 0.1% compared with the 1st Quarter of 2014.

The number of unemployed persons decreased by 4.6% compared with the previous quarter and by 3.6% compared with the 2nd Quarter of 2013.

The unemployment rate for females (30,4%) is considerably higher than the unemployment rate for males (23.5%). By observing the unemployment rate for different age groups, we notice that the highest unemployment rate is recorded among young people in the age group of 15-24 years (52.0%). For young females, the unemployment rate is 57.5%.

The percentage of the “new” unemployed, that is the percentage of persons who are looking for a job and have never worked in the past, is 22.8%. We should note that the percentage of the “long term” unemployed, that is the percentage of persons that have been looking for a job for 1 year or more, is 74.4%.

The unemployment rate is higher for persons of foreign nationality (33.0%) compared with those of Greek nationality (26.0%). We also note that the percentage of the economically active persons with foreign nationality is much higher than the corresponding percentage for persons with Greek nationality (73.6% compared to 50.5%). The geographical areas (NUTS II regions) with the highest unemployment rate are Western Greece (29.9%) and Central Macedonia (29.4%). The lowest unemployment rates are observed in Southern Aegean (17.9%) and the Ionian Islands (21.1%)