ATHENS — Greek unemployment rate rose to 17.1 pct of the workforce in the first quarter of 2021 from 16.2 pct in the same period last year and in the fourth quarter of 2020, with the number of unemployed people totaling 745,414, Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Monday.

In a report, the statistics service said that a 58.4 pct of them were unemployed for more than 12 months (long-term unemployed) while first-time unemployed accounted for 19.8 pct. The percentage of unemployed people not registered with the Manpower Employment Authority was 18.6 pct, while those receiving unemployment benefit totaled 16.4 pct.

The unemployment rate among women was 21.3 pct and among men 13.7 pct. The 15-19 age group recorded the highest unemployment rate (60.2 pct), followed by the 20-24 age group (41.4 pct), the 25-29 group (31.4 pct), the 30-44 group (16.6 pct), the 45-64 group (12 pct) and the over-65 age group (9.2 pct). Among the country's regions, Central Greece recorded the highest unemployment rate (22.7 pct), followed by South Aegean (22.4 pct), Crete (22.3 pct), East Macedonia-Thrace (21.4 pct), West Macedonia (20.5 pct), Thessaly (19.6 pct), Epirus (19.5 pct), Central Macedonia (18.9 pct), West Greece (18.8 pct), Ioinian Islands (16.4 pct), Peloponnese (14.2 pct), North Aegean (14 pct) and Attica (13 pct).

The number of employed people totaled 3,625,061 in the first quarter, down 6.5 pct from the previous quarter and down 5.9 pct compared with the same period in 2020. A 67.1 pct of employed people were wage earners, self-employed accounted for 22.3 pct, down 7.7 pct and 12.9 pct, respectively, compared with the previous quarter. Part-time employment was 7.8 pct, with the percentage of people with temporary jobs was 6.1 pct. Part-time employment was down 6.4 pct from the previous quarter and down 22.7 pct from 2020.