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U.S. financial regulators to warn about student debt risks
April 25, 2013
The panel of senior U.S. regulators charged with safeguarding the financial system will warn this week about risks posed by the rapidly growing amount of student debt, increasing pressure on policymakers to deal with the potential problem.
At roughly $1 trillion and rising, education loans may hamper economic growth and limit home purchases as overly indebted households and young workers cut back on consumption and borrowing, the Financial Stability Oversight Council is poised to warn in its latest annual report, sources familiar with the matter said.
The yearly compendium on financial developments and potential risks to the financial system, prepared by the nine agencies that comprise FSOC, will be made public on Thursday. Student debt will not be presented as an immediate threat to financial stability, these people said, but its mention in the report as a risk is likely to alarm a sector that has been in policymakers’ sights for the past year.
FSOC joins the Federal Reserve’s interest rate-setting panel, the Federal Open Market Committee; the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research; the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in alerting about the possible danger student debt poses to either financial stability or the broader economy.
This is the reality of austerity: Greek children are starving
April 22, 2013
Force-feeding Greece with budget cuts and tax increases gets a predictable, and tragic, results.
It’s not fair to blame Rogoff and Reinhart for the austerity craze that has gripped Europe. It is fair to say that their presentation of flawed data about the last half-century of growth and debt was used as intellectual ammunition in a total war on deficits that has destroyed families across the continent.
In Greece, the fog of austerity is more than a metaphor. This winter, a very real cloud of smoke haunted the city at night, as families burned felled trees and broken chairs to stay warm. While the economy has shrunk by a fifth and youth unemployment has screamed past 50 percent, the real tragedy can’t really be told with numbers. It’s simple, really. Children are starving.
The New York Times reports the heart-breaking details:
“He had eaten almost nothing at home,” Mr. Nikas said, sitting in his cramped school office near the port of Piraeus, a working-class suburb of Athens, as the sound of a jump rope skittered across the playground. He confronted Pantelis’s parents, who were ashamed and embarrassed but admitted that they had not been able to find work for months. Their savings were gone, and they were living on rations of pasta and ketchup.
The euro was supposed to tie Europe together as a single unified economic powerhouse. When Greek children go malnourished while unemployment falls in Germany, you can see very clearly that unity is just another European myth. In the United States, we have an answer for weak state economies. It’s called Mississippi. They get a permanent “bail out” through an annual transfer of money: tax credits, Medicaid spending, infrastructure assistance, and so on. In Europe, the answer for failing state economies is: You get this bag of money if you take the following measures to destroy your economy.
You don’t need to know how to fact-check Harvard economists to understand a simple truth: Force-feeding austerity to a country starving for money and growth will only get you more starvation.
yo-soy-dulce asked: I went to the source for the massacre of the strawberry plantation immigrants but it doesn't work? :o
Original source (RT - working on and off)
Additional source 1 (LA Times)
Additional source 2 (HuffPost)
At least 28 immigrants shot at Greece strawberry plantation after not being paid for six months
April 19, 2013
Greek police are hunting three strawberry plantation foremen, who are suspected of shooting nearly 30 workers, mostly Bangladeshi, after immigrants demanded wages they had not been paid for six months.
Officials have promised “swift and exemplary” punishment for the three foremen who disappeared after the incident that took place on April, 17 in Nea Manolada, about 260km (160 miles) west of Athens.
So far police arrested the owner of the farm, in the rural south of the country and a local man on suspicion of hiding the three foremen.
The violence allegedly occurred when one of the supervisors opened fire on a crowd of about 200 foreign workers gathered to request their unpaid salaries.
According to one of the immigrants, they were promised wages of 22 euros ($28.70) a day.
“They keep telling us that we will get paid in a month, and this has been going on for more than a year,” Reuters quoted a man who refused to be identified.
The conflict resulted in at least 28 people being injured. Seven Bangladeshi workers are still receiving treatment in local hospitals, but none of them has life-threatening injuries.
The Greek government has condemned the “inhuman, unprecedented and shameful” shooting.
“This unprecedented and shameful act is foreign to Greek ethics,” government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said.
At the same time, the country’s main labor union, GSEE, has accused the government of failing to properly investigate conditions at Manolada.
“The criminal act in Manolada … shows the tragic results of labor exploitation, combined with a lack of control” [by the government labor inspectorate]”, a GSEE statement said. “In Manolada, and particularly in the strawberry plantations, a sort of state within a state has been created.”
Wednesday’s attack has been called the worst of all recent attacks on migrant strawberry workers in Greece, the country that mostly Asian and African asylum seekers see as a gateway to the European Union.
The Greek department of the Doctors of the World medical aid group suggested the shooting should be treated as a case of racist violence, a felony which carries more severe penalties.
“The protracted financial crisis, combined with a constantly growing mood of xenophobia and tolerance for racist violence, is leading to incidents of barbarity and brutality that … insult Greece,” the group said.
Following the violence, local supermarkets, Vasilopoulos and Chalkiadakis, announced that they would stop selling strawberries from the company that employed the alleged shooters.
Activists are now calling for a boycott of what they call slavery, by not buying Manolada berries.
“By boycotting #Manolada’s #bloodstrawberries you’re sending a clear message that you do not condone slavery,” reads the statement on Twitter.
However, there are some who believe that illegally hired immigrant workers should be deported from crisis stricken Greece.
With unemployment hitting a record 27 percent, anti-immigrant sentiment has been rising in the country.
Right-wing extremist political party, Golden Dawn, which holds 18 seats of the 300-member Parliament, said in a statement Thursday that they “condemn those who illegally employ illegal immigrants, taking the bread away from thousands of Greek families.”
“All illegal immigrants must be immediately deported,” it said.
Cypriot “no” inspires Greeks to rail against austerity
March 20, 2013
Greeks and opposition parties inspired by the Cypriot rejection of an unpopular bailout deal urged Athens on Wednesday to stand up to foreign lenders whose demands have resulted in repeated rounds of austerity that have made Greek life a misery.
Cyprus’s parliament on Tuesday rejected a levy on bank deposits demanded in return for aid, raising the spectre of a default for the island nation that could mean enduring wave after wave of spending cuts and tax rises, just like Greece.
“See what Cyprus did? We are proud of them,” said Fey Papadopoulou, 22, a university student. “They should be an example for our politicians, who have succumbed to every demand.”
Cyprus pleaded with Russia on Wednesday for a five-year extension and lower interest on an existing 2.5 billion euro ($3.22 billion) loan and 5 billion euros in new loans after voting down euro zone plan for a 10 billion euro bailout.
“The Cypriots set an example to follow,” left-leaning Eleftherotypia said in its leading editorial. “How can the Cypriots say ‘no’ and we can’t even reject a single property tax?”, ran a headline on Greek television channel Antenna.
Greece which first sought aid from European Union and the International Monetary Fund in 2010, has yielded to demands for harsh austerity measures that have slashed household income by almost a third and sent unemployment up to a record 26 percent.
“Cyprus said ‘No’ on our behalf too,” said Odysseas Panagiotou, a 45-year old clerk. “It’s about time that our traitors - politicians - say a big ‘No’ to the troika demands.”
The “no” vote from Nicosia comes just days before Athens and its lenders resume delicate talks on the implementation of the country’s bailout, with creditors pushing Athens to respect past pledges to fire civil servants and stick to unpopular tax rises.
Merkel’s Strategy
Whether Athens - which in the past has ignored riots and mass protests to approve austerity packages and avert bankruptcy - will be swayed by the latest outcry depends on whether Cyprus ends up bankrupt or finds a solution elsewhere, analysts said.
“If Cyprus goes bankrupt, then the government’s argument that we must stay on the austerity path will be reinforced, but if it wins better bailout terms the main opposition’s arguments will be stronger,” said Thomas Gerakis, head of Marc pollsters.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s government - which has been scrambling to assure Greeks that their bank deposits are not at risk due to the Cypriot crisis - said late on Tuesday it supported Cyprus’s choices.
But Greece’s anti-bailout opposition, including the radical leftist Syriza party, rushed to accuse him and Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras of bowing to the austerity demands of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“After the Cypriots’ proud ‘no’, Mr. Samaras and Mr. Stournaras are the most faithful adherents of Ms. Merkel’s strategy,” said a statement from Syriza, Greece’s most popular party according to a MARC/Alpha survey published on Tuesday.
“The Cypriot parliament shows the way of real negotiation, which no pro-bailout government in Greece even considered.”
Syriza also interpreted a statement late on Tuesday by the European Central Bank to continue funding Cypris banks within existing rules, as a sign of weakness on the part of creditors.
“And just like that, we found out that another way is possible,” Syriza deputy Rena Dourou tweeted a few minutes after the ECB statement was release.
Thousands of Greeks protest planned gold mining site that would be destructive to the environment
March 9, 2013
More than 10,000 people have taken to the streets of Greece’s second largest city to protest a planned gold mine they see as an environmental risk.
Police blocked the crowd’s march to the Canadian Consulate in Thessaloniki, but Saturday’s protest took place and ended peacefully. Eldorado Gold Corp., based in Vancouver, Canada, has been granted the rights to the gold mine in Halkidiki peninsula, east of Thessaloniki.
The company has established a camp employing 1,200 people and plans to begin digging soon.
The issue has bitterly divided Halkidiki residents, with some claiming the mine will harm tourism and release toxic substances, and others denying that and saying new jobs are crucial during Greece’s severe economic crisis.
Thousands of Greek university students protest against a higher education ‘reform’ bill, amid the government’s austerity measures.
March 7, 2013
The students held a rally in front of the parliament on Wednesday, opposing the administration’s plan to close down or merge 350 university departments and faculties.
“We want our diplomas, not worthless documents,” chanted the protesters.
As a result of the reform, many students might have to move to other cities to complete their studies or end up holding a different degree than what they initially planned.
This comes only a few days after another demonstration by primary and secondary state school teachers and unionists held in Athens against relentless budgetary restrictions in the country’s public education sector.
Athens aims to cut 150,000 public sector jobs by 2015, including 25,000 before the end of this year.
Over the past years, workers’ salaries and pensions have been cut, resulting in the country’s citizens to stage strikes and demonstrations numerous times to voice their dissatisfaction.
Greece has been at the epicenter of the eurozone debt crisis and is experiencing its sixth year of recession, while harsh austerity measures have left tens of thousands of people without jobs.
The People’s Record Daily News Update
Here’s a collection of news stories for February 20, 2013 that you may not otherwise have a chance to see/learn about.
Chief of Police Cathy Lanier ordered a documentation of counseling to be placed in Detective William Hawkins’ performance-documentation file after he spoke openly to the Washington Postfor a 2009 article about the department’s All Hands on Deck initiative. That program, which has since been retired by the department, required all officers in the city to report for scheduled weekend-shifts in an attempt to flood the streets with law enforcement and ideally thwart crime. It was condemned by Detective Hawkins and the police union, however, who said the program was inefficient and in violation of bargaining contracts, respectively.
For only 99 cents per sheet, Law Enforcement Targets Inc. allows customers to order life-like posters that show that people of all walks of life could be potential threats to police officers. Among the targets available in their “No More Hesitation” series for shooting practice are enlarged photographs of a pregnant woman, children holding hands and a high-school aged girl.
In every image, the suspect is showing holding a gun, meant to force officers of the law to act without hesitation in even the most unusual life-or-death scenarios. In a statement emailed to Reason on Tuesday afternoon, the marketing team at Law Enforcement Targets explains the thought process involved in selling realistic targets that let people open fire on young children and the elderly alike.
“The subjects in NMH targets were chosen in order to give officers the experience of dealing with deadly force shooting scenarios with subjects that are not the norm during training,” the statement begins.
Greek workers walk out in fresh austerity protests & actions
Thousands of Greek workers walked off the job on Wednesday in the first nationwide protest against austerity this year, shutting schools, reducing staffing at state hospitals and disrupting transportation.
The 24-hour strike was called by the country’s two main labor unions, which represent about 2.5 million workers and have led public resistance to three years of austerity measures that have raised taxes and cut salaries and pensions. The unions called on Greeks to join them in protest rallies in Athens and other cities on Wednesday to oppose “dead-end policies that have squeezed the life out of workers and impoverished citizens,” slashing average incomes by a third and pushing unemployment to 27 percent.
Anti-fracking protests shut down gas drilling in Ohio for hours
Authorities say a protest by members of environmental groups temporarily shut down operations at a gas drilling waste storage site in southeast Ohio.
The Washington County sheriff’s office said it happened Tuesday at the GreenHunter Water storage facility in New Matamoras on the Ohio River.
About 100 people staged the protest, which included one of them perching on a chair at the top of a 30-foot pole. Operations at the facility — which stores wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — were disrupted for about four hours.
Yale will train US Special Forces in interrogation techniques using immigrants as guinea pigs
Yale University is planning to train US Special Forces to detect lies by practicing on immigrants. The program strives to provide soldiers with such interview tactics by practicing on “someone they can’t necessarily identify with”.
Starting as early as April, the university will launch a new training center on its campus for interrogators to prepare the Green Berets for overseas interrogations. Yuck.
Thousands protest in Armenia after conservative Republican president is re-elected
About 5,000 flag-waving protesters rallied on Wednesday against Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan’s re-election, saying his victory was tainted by fraud. Supporters of Sarksyan’s second-placed rival Raffi Hovannisian filled Freedom Square in the center of the capital Yerevan to condemn what they said were uncounted ballots and other violations.
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Striking workers at the Vio.Me factory in Thessaloniki, Greece who have not been paid since May 2011 have decided to restart production under workers’ control on February 12, 2013 (tomorrow).
With unemployment climbing to 30%, workers’ income reaching zero, sick and tired of big words, promises and more taxes, unpaid since May 2011 and currently withholding their labour, with the factory abandoned by the employers, the workers of Vio.Me. by decision of their general assembly declare their determination not to fall prey to a condition of perpetual unemployment, but instead to struggle to take the factory in their own hands and operate it themselves. Through a formal proposal dating from October 2011 they have been claiming the establishment of a workers’ cooperative under full workers’ control, demanding legal recognition for their own workers’ cooperative, as well as for all the others to follow. At the same time they have been demanding the money required to put the factory in operation, money that in any case belongs to them, as they are the ones who produce the wealth of society. The plan that was drawn up met with the indifference of the state and of trade union bureaucracies. But it was received with great enthusiasm by the world of the social movements, which, through the creation of the Open Initiative of Solidarity in Thessaloniki and afterwards with similar initiatives in many other cities, have been struggling for the past 6 months to spread the message of Vio.Me across society.
Now it’s time for worker´s control of Vio.Me.!
The workers cannot wait any longer for the bankrupt state to fulfil its gratuitous promises of support (even the 1000-euro emergency aid promised by the Ministry of Labour was never approved by the Minister of Finance). It’s time to see the Vio.Me. factory –as well as any other factory that is closing down, going bankrupt or laying off its workers- reopened but its workers, and not by its old or new bosses. The struggle should not be limited to Vio.Me., in order for it to be victorious it should be generalized and spread to all the factories and businesses that are closing down, because only through a network of self-managed factories will Vio.Me be able to thrive and light the way towards a different organisation of production and the economy, with no exploitation, inequality or hierarchy.
When factories are closing down one after another, the number of the unemployed in Greece is approaching 2 million and the vast majority of the population is condemned to poverty and misery by the governing coalition of PASOK-ND-DIMAR, which continues the policies of the preceding governments, the demand to operate the factories under workers’ control is the only reasonable response to the disaster that we experience every day, the only answer to unemployment; for that reason, the struggle of Vio.Me. is everyone’s struggle.
We urge all workers, the unemployed and all those who are affected by the crisis to stand by the workers of Vio.Me and support them in their effort to put in practice the belief that workers can make it without bosses! We call them to participate in a nationwide Struggle and Solidarity Caravan culminating in three days of struggle in Thessaloniki. We urge them to take up the struggle and organize their own fights within their working places, with direct democratic procedures, without bureaucrats. To participate in a general political strike in order to oust those who destroy our lives!
Aiming to establish worker’s control over factories and the whole of production and to organize the economy and society that we desire, a society without bosses!
It’s Vio.Me.’s time. Let’s get to work!
Paving the way for workers’ self-management everywhere!
Paving the way for a society without bosses!
Open Initiative of Solidarity and Support to the struggle of the workers of Vio.Me.
Man trampled as hundreds of desperate Greeks scuffle for food
February 7, 2013
A fruit and vegetable handout in Greece led to one man being trampled on Wednesday, calling attention to the desperate conditions in the crisis-hit country. Some 55 tons of produce was given away by farmers who were protesting high production costs.
The person was injured when he was pushed by a crowd trying to grab the goods and fell and hit his head.
The chaos was sparked when food stalls ran out of fruits and vegetables, prompting dozens of people to rush to a nearby truck.
It was an “every man for himself” situation as the Greeks shoved their way to the front of the truck, competing for the food that was left. The 55 tons of food was completely gone in under two hours.
A Reuters employee at the scene was hit on the head with cauliflower heads as he attempted to photograph the situation.
“These images make me angry. Angry for a proud people who have no food to eat, who can’t afford to keep warm, who can’t make ends meet,”
Kostas Barkas, a lawmaker from the leftist Syriza party, told Reuters.
Other Greek lawmakers said the situation showed images “of people on the brink of despair” and the sense of“sadness for a proud people who have ended up like this.”
It’s a reality that many Greek citizens find hard to comprehend.
“It’s difficult. I never imagined that I would end up here,” 65-year-old Panagiota Petropoulos said.
“I can’t afford anything, not even at the fruit market. Everything is expensive, prices of everything are going up while our income is going down and there are no jobs,” she continued.
Greece, which is currently in its sixth year of recession, is experiencing record high unemployment rates. Citizens have been forced to endure wage and pension cuts to satisfy European Union and International Monetary Fund demands.
The handout was an attempt by farmers to persuade the government to give them a 50 per cent price reduction on diesel-powered farm equipment, abolish the obligatory declaration for cultivation and cut Value Added Tax from 23 per cent to 6 per cent on their products and agricultural machinery and equipment.
Strikes continue to take place in various sectors, as workers protest the government’s austerity plan.
On Wednesday, Greece’s ruling coalition forced striking seamen to return to work after a six-day action that suspended ferry services to dozens of Greek Islands. The strike led to food and medical shortages.
But when one strike ends, others continue.
Farmers throughout the country are in their ninth day of demonstrations, staging roadblocks with their tractors on highways across Greece on Wednesday.
Journalists working for state broadcasters went into a third day of strikes on Wednesday, protesting against the government’s policies regulating the sector. The strike is scheduled to continue until Thursday.
Various Greek Unions have held a wave of strikes over the past three years to protest the harsh austerity measures taken to secure international rescue loans.
Unemployment for workers under 25 is now at 57.6 percent, & more than one fifth of the population lives in poverty in Greece. Austerity measures have also cut wages by 60 percent. The IMF & the EU are planning more cuts to the minimum wage & public sector wages.
Greek seamen & farmers protest government cuts, reforms
February 3, 2013
Greek seamen extended a strike to protest government austerity for a further 48 hours on Sunday, meaning that dozens of islands will have been cut off from the mainland for six days.
Farmers also briefly disrupted traffic on several major motorways across Greece in the latest wave of protest over budget cuts and labour reform that is needed to satisfy international lenders.
Greece’s biggest labour union has called a general 24-hour strike for Feb. 20.
The seamen are demanding months of unpaid wages and the repeal of a draft law that weakens their union by introducing a new employment contract between shipowners and crew.
“The law wipes out the seamens’ profession and all the rules underpinning it,” PNO union said.
The strike, which started on Thursday, has begun causing shortages on grocery shelves and is hindering agricultural exports to the Balkans and beyond, the Athens Central Vegetable Market Association said in a statement.
The farmers disrupted traffic with sit-ins and by distributing free rice to drivers, to protest tax increases that form part of the country’s bailout.
“We have no choice but to go on, we’re on the brink of desperation,” one farmer told state television NET. Greece’s latest austerity package mandates lower tax refunds and fuel subsidies for farmers and increases the social security contributions they must pay.
The Greek government is holding talks with the protesters but refuses to budge on any demands that might undermine its deficit cutting efforts, a condition of bailout funds and debt relief from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
Greece last month invoked rarely used emergency powers to break a strike of subway workers, serving military-style orders instructing them to return to work or face arrest.
Austerity has fuelled social unrest and extremism. Police on Friday arrested two bank robbers who turned out to be members of left-wing extremist group “Conspiracy of Fire Cells”, which has claimed a spate of bomb attacks across the country since 2009.
“Golden Dawn”, an ultra-right, anti-immigrant party which ranks third in the opinion polls, staged its biggest rally ever in Athens late on Saturday, mustering about 5,000 supporters.
Thousands marched in Athens protesting the racially-motivated stabbing of a 27-year-old Pakistani man earlier this week.
Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn literature was found at the home of one of the attackers. The nationalist racist party has campaigned to keep immigrants out of Greece, saying “Greece is for Greeks” promising to militarize borders with landmines & patrol officers.
There have been 87 racist attacks in Greece from January to September 2012.
Greece hit by public sector strike
December 19, 2012
Greek transport systems have been disrupted and schools and tax offices shut after public sector workers walked off the job in protest at new austerity measures and lay-offs demanded by foreign lenders.
The 24-hour strike is the latest in a series of protests since September against a package of wage cuts and tax hikes demanded by Greece’s European Union and International Monetory Fund lenders as the price for bailout loans to keep the country afloat.
The measures, which include earmarking 27,000 civil servants for eventual dismissal, remain unpopular among Greeks who say society is crumbling under the weight of spending cuts and tax hikes that hurt mostly the middle class.
‘Enough is enough’
On Wednesday, striking teachers, doctors and municipal workers started gathering in central Athens as part of the walkout called by the ADEDY union, which represents about half a million public sector workers or roughly a quarter of the country’s workforce.
“We want to tell the government enough is enough! Enough with layoffs, wage and pension cuts, the collapse of the public sector, enough with these tax hikes,” said Adedy unionist Despina Spanou.
Greece’s other major union, the private sector union GSEE, said it would hold a three-hour stoppage in solidarity and join the march through the streets of central Athens.
The Communist-affiliated PAME group was expected to hold a separate rally.
Some domestic flights were grounded and about 100 workers occupied the headquarters of Athens’ city train company on Wednesday in protest at planned wage cuts.
Train workers also started a 48-hour strike against the conservative-led coalition’s plans to privatise Greece’s national railways.
Metro and tram workers walked off the job for a few hours on Wednesday and plan a 24-hour strike on Thursday.
Thousands were expected to march to the administrative reform ministry which oversees public sector reform, however unionists expected a smaller turnout that previous strikes.
Unions said that some Greeks, although fed up with austerity, could no longer afford to lose a day’s wages.
Police deployed about 2,000 officers in central Athens.
Italy to join Greece, Portugal and Spain in European mega strike
November 8, 2012
Italy will join Greece, Spain and Portugal in holding strikes against austerity on November 14 in an unprecedented show of co-ordinated action on the continent.
The decision to take a four hour strike was announced Monday night by Italy’s largest trade union confederation, CGIL, which stated:
‘For many years, the European trade union movement deplores austerity measures…They are dragging Europe down into economic stagnation and recession. This results in stunted growth and unemployment that continues to increase.’
‘Cuts in wages and social protection are attacks on the European social model and exacerbate inequality and social injustice.
‘The ‘errors of judgment’ of the International Monetary Fund have had an incalculable impact on the daily lives of workers and citizens. The whole basis of the policies of austerity has to be revisited. The IMF must apologize. And the Troika must revise its demands.”
‘Twenty five million Europeans are out of work. In some countries the youth unemployment rate exceeds 50%.
‘The sense of injustice is widespread and social discontent is growing.”
‘We need to change direction towards a European social pact. The European trade unions are calling for a change of course.”
The European Trade Union Confederation, which has called a day of action on November 14, has been campaigning for economic policies that stimulates quality employment, ‘solidarity’ between countries and social justice.
‘It is time to end tax evasion, tax havens and tax competition between countries. A financial transaction tax should help repair the damage of unregulated capitalism,’ the CGIL added.
The CGIL’s strike was also called in opposition to a fresh set of austerity measures and neo-liberal reforms recently unveiled by the government of unelected prime minister and former Goldman Sachs advisor Mario Monti.
Spain and Portugal are planning on holding a second wave of general strikes on November 14 while Greece, Malta and Cyprus are also planning strike action on the day.
1 in 4 Greek workers unemployed as joblessness hits record 25.4%
November 8, 2012
Greece’s unemployment rate reached a record high of 25.4 percent in August, with 1 in 4 of the country’s workers now jobless, the country’s statistics service reported. The figure is more than double the eurozone average of 11.5 percent for August.
The unemployment rate in Greece has increased by 0.6 percent points since July, when it recorded at 24.8 percent, ELSTAT reported on Thursday. The figure marked the 35th consecutive month of rising unemployment in Greece.
The report states that in August, 36.5 thousand Greeks lost their jobs, bringing total unemployment to 1.27 million.
Young people are the group hardest hit by employment, with a 58 percent jobless rate for those between the ages of 15 and 24.
The Greek parliament voted to pass the latest austerity package Wednesday as thousands rallied in protest against further spending cuts. Riots broke out on news that the further belt-tightening measures had been approved.
At least 100 people were arrested as firebomb-throwing demonstrators clashed with riot police, who used tear gas and water cannons to quell the protests.
