HispanicBusiness

Greece's unemployment rate rose to a record high of 26.8 per cent in October, as the country headed into a sixth year of recession, the state statistics agency (ELSTAT) said on Thursday.

The jobless rate rose from 26 per cent in the previous month and 19.7 per cent a year earlier.

Official figures showed 1.345 million people were unemployed, with the young being the worst affected, with 56.6 per cent of those aged between 15 and 24 out of work in October 2012, compared to 46.7 per cent a year earlier and 34.7 per cent in 2010.

The country's unemployment rate has increased dramatically as a result of harsh austerity measures demanded by Greece's international creditors, which have shut down tens of thousands of businesses in exchange for rescue loans.