Nine out of 10 Greek jobless do not receive unemployment aids: study

A study based on data from Greece's national statistics agency ELSTAT finds that about nine out of 10 jobless in Greece do not receive any state aid.

The study, conducted by experts of ELSTAT and GSEE, the largest trade union of private sector employees, also shows that 70 percent of the about 820,000 Greek jobless have been out of work for more than a year.

The Greek government should provide unemployment benefits to the jobless under certain criteria up to 12 months, but relatives, friends, neighbors and NGOs are in fact filling the gaps during the years of the debt crisis, says the study.

And according to a survey published on Monday's "Ta Nea" (The News) newspaper, there are at least 350,000 Greek households without single member employed.

The gloomy labour market has led to the outflow of skilled workers and professionals.

According to the study, nearly 300,000 professionals left Greece in the past six years seeking job opportunities abroad.

By ages, the young Greeks up to 24 years old are the most affected with unemployment rates reaching up to 47 percent.

But things seem to improve, as the unemployment rate declined to 23.1 percent in September from 23.3 percent in August and from 24.7 percent in last September, the latest ELSTAT statistics shows. Enditem