The number of unemployed reached 508,401, an increase of 28.7% on the previous quarter and 4.2% on the first quarter of 2025. About 249,000 of them — roughly half — are long-term unemployed.
Unemployment among women stood at 13.9%, against 7.9% for men. The highest rates by age were among young people: 35% for those aged 15 to 19 and 23.8% for those aged 20 to 24, followed by 17.4% for 25- to 29-year-olds, 10.7% for those aged 30 to 44, 7.9% for those aged 45 to 64 and 6.1% for those aged 65 and over.
Regionally, the highest rates were recorded in the South Aegean (29.9%), the Ionian Islands (23.6%) and Western Greece (13.1%). They were followed by Central Macedonia (12.2%), Epirus (12%), Western Macedonia and Crete (both 11.9%), Thessaly and the Peloponnese (both 10.3%), Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (9.9%), Attica (8.1%), Central Greece (6.4%) and the North Aegean (6%).
The most common reason for becoming unemployed was the end of a fixed-term job, cited by 41.3%. A further 18.6% had never worked before and were classed as newly unemployed, while 49% had been looking for work for a year or more, the threshold for long-term unemployment. Most of the unemployed (61.2%) had completed at least secondary education. Some 16.8% said they were not registered with the labour agency DYPA (formerly OAED), and only 23% reported receiving a benefit or other assistance from it.
The number of people in work was 4,272,151, down 1.8% on the previous quarter but up 1.3% year on year. Salaried employees made up the largest share at 71.9%, with the self-employed without staff accounting for a further 18%.
Part-time work made up 5.2% of total employment, down 3.8% on the previous quarter and 11% on a year earlier. Those on temporary contracts accounted for 7.3%, down 20.1% quarter on quarter and 2.3% year on year.
The occupations with the highest employment shares were professionals (23.3%) and service and sales workers (21.9%). Compared with the previous quarter, the largest rise was among professionals, up 3.5%, while the largest fall was among senior managers and administrative executives, down 7.5%. Year on year, the biggest increase was among unskilled and manual workers, up 13.9%, while the largest decrease was among skilled farmers, livestock breeders, foresters and fishers, down 9.9%.
On working hours, 52.2% of employees said they had worked 40 to 47 hours during the reference week, and 14.9% worked 48 hours or more. Three-quarters (74%) reported working their usual hours, while 5.8% said they would like to work more. Some 1.8% were part-time underemployed — willing and able to work more hours within the next fortnight — and 1.3% held more than one job.
The number of people outside the labour force, neither working nor seeking work, was 4,211,638, of whom 2,958,916 were under the age of 75. That under-75 figure fell by 1.4% on the previous quarter and by 3.5% year on year. Most people aged 15 to 74 outside the labour force had either never worked (47.3%) or had not worked for more than eight years (28.1%). Of those who had worked within the past eight years, 59.8% had stopped because of retirement and 18.6% because a fixed-term job had ended.
Finally, 93.3% of those outside the labour force said they did not wish to work. A further 1.4% were looking for work but not immediately available to take it, and 2.5% were immediately available but not actively seeking employment.
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