ATHENS — Greek unemployment rate fell to 15.8 pct of the workforce in December 2020 from 16.4 pct in December 2019 and 16.2 pct in November 2020, Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Wednesday. The statistics service, in a monthly report, said that the unemployment rate rose in the 15-34 age group, in the islands of the Aegean and Crete, while employment fell in the country.

More specifically, the number of unemployed people totaled 726,360 in December, down 5.8 pct from December 2019 and down 3.2 pct from November 2020. The number of employed people was 3,880,364, down 0.9 pct from December 2019 and off 0.3 pct from November 2020. The economically non-active part of the population was 3,272,633 in December, up 1.6 pct from December 2019 and up 1.1 pct from November 2020. The unemployment rate among women was 19.5 pct in December from 20.4 pct a year earlier, while among men it fell to 12.8 pct from 13.3 pct, respectively. The 15-24 age group recorded the highest unemployment rate (34.2 pct in December 2020 from 33 pct in December 2019), followed by the 25-34 age group (22.9 pct from 21.9 pct), the 35-44 age group (14.9 pct from 16.3 pct), the 45-54 age group (12.2 pct from 13.2 pct), the 55-64 age group (11.8 pct from 12.7 pct) and the 65-74 age group (10.6 pct from 9.8 pct).

Among the country's regions, Aegean recorded the highest unemployment rate (18.8 pct from 12.4 pct in December 2019), followed by Epirus-Western Macedonia (18 pct from 20 pct), Macedonia-Thrace (17.3 pct frmo 18.5 pct), Thessaly-Central Greece (16.4 pct from 18 pct), Peloponese-Western Greece-Ionian Islands (15.5 pct from 17 pct), Crete (15.3 pct from 12.3 pct) and Attica (14.4 pct from 15.4 pct).