ΑΤΗΕΝS — It's of little consolation to those still without work but the unemployment rate in Greece fell in July to 14.2 percent from 15 percent a month earlier, still highest in the 19 countries of the Eurozone who use the euro as a currency.

That doesn't include Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden, all who opted out so they can use their homeland currency but Greece ditched the drachma when it entered the European Union.

Figures from Greece's statistics agency ELSTAR showed that the seasonally-adjusted data found 664,384 people without work although July is a big month for tourism workers to find opportunities, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Once again it was the young faring the worst, with a 32.3 percent jobless rate for those 15-24 in July, falling from 35.8 percent a month earlier, the data showed, said the news agency Reuters.

The rate hit a record 27.8 percent in September, 2013 during the early stages of a near decade-long economic crisis worsened for workers by harsh austerity measures that included big pay cuts, tax hikes, and slashed pensions too.

As usual, it was tougher on women, some 20.2 percent without jobs that month compared to 14.1 percent for men even though the economy has started to pick up during the pandemic and growing faster than expected, 5.9 percent this year now being predicted.