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General News
Meropi Kyriacou Honored as TNH Educator of the Year
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
ATHENS – Greece’s jobless rate that soared during a 2010-18 crisis and saw half of those 25-35 out of work and many fleeing the country looking for work was at 9.6 percent in June, continuing to fall under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ rein.
The rate was at 17.5 percent in June 2019 when he ousted the then-ruling Radical Left SYRIZA and embarked on a campaign to restore the economy – giving the green light to the 8 billion euro ($8.66 billion) development of the abandoned Hellinikon International Airport, and sought out more foreign investors.
“Additionally, we have seen an increase of 400,000 in the number of employed individuals,” Mitsotakis added in a post on his Facebook page, citing numbers from the Hellenic Statistical Authority ELSTAT that tracks the rate.
He said the agency reported that the drop in June, from 10.3 percent in May was the lowest level since the same month in 2009, just before the bailouts and economic crisis began, which brought brutal austerity measures.
It wasn’t said how much of the drop could be attributed to seasonal workers in the tourism industry that’s on a course to break 2023 records and at its height employed nearly a million people.
Mitsotakis pointed out that, “Women’s unemployment has decreased by 2.2 percentage points compared to June 2023, while youth unemployment has dropped by 2 percentage points.”
He said the figures showed, “Our targeted policies are yielding positive results. Of course, we are not complacent. We are aware of the challenges faced by our citizens. We know that we still have a lot of work ahead of us. Our goal is to align with Europe on all fronts: wages, unemployment and quality of life. We will continue to pursue this goal.”
The Ergani database of the Labor Ministry reported a record hiring of 339,208 in the first six months of the year, including 23,961 in June, mainly of young people in the food service and accommodation sectors as tourism shot up.
But the data also showed that 40,910 new jobs were for those 15-24, who are willing to work part-time and for low wages compared to skilled workers in full-time positions in other sectors.
One worrying note was that there was a loss of 15,344 jobs for those in the 30-44 age bracket who apparently were bumped by younger workers willing to work for less and with flexible terms of employment.
