Greek official unemployment keeps on rising

An elder man walks by riot policemen guarding the Interior Ministry in Athens on Wednesday, June 6, 2012. Greece is in a fifth year of recession, with poverty and unemployment rapidly rising amid protracted harsh cutbacks implemented to secure vital international bailout loans. AP PHOTO/KOSTAS TSIRONIS

ATHENS—Greece’s jobless rate rose to 21.9 percent in March from a revised 21.4 percent the previous month, with youths the worst hit, official data showed Thursday.

Nearly 1.8 million people were registered as unemployed in the nation of 11.3 million, according to Greece’s Ase statistics agency said.

The unemployment rate among 15-24 year-olds not in school or university dipped to 52.8 percent in March from 53.8 percent the previous month, but was still up considerably from the 42 percent one year ago.

Women have been hit harder by unemployment, with 25.8 percent unemployed opposed to 18.9 percent for men.

Greece has been in recession for five years, but unemployment has more than doubled since its crisis deepened in 2010 when the country was forced to seek an international bailout and was forced to implement austerity measures.