Unemployment Rises While Output Falls in Greece

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Alkman Granitsas discusses Greece’s unemployment rate for November 2011, which was released Thursday.  The November unemployment rate was 20.9%, which is up from 18.2% in October 2011.  The graph from the article shows the steady climb in Greek unemployment since 2010, when unemployment was below 15%.  As the graph also shows, this rise in unemployment has coincided with a fall in industrial output of 7.8% from November to December.  Granitsas points to last year’s austerity measures as a likely contributor to the economic slowdown that has resulted in a fifth year of recession for Greece.