Greek Youth Unemployment Soars To Record 65%

What little hope there may have been that bad and/or deteriorating Greek economic data had peaked in the early part of 2013 and the country was set for a long overdue "recovery" was promptly extinguished following today's latest release of the Greek May labor force survey.

The headline news for the broader population was ugly:

The number of employed was 3,621,153, a decline of 14,889 from April, and down 171,356 from a year earlier

The number of unemployed was a record high 1,381,088, an increase of 43,467 from April, and up 193,668 from a year earlier

The unemployment rate was a record high 27.6%, up from 26.9% in April and 23.8% a year earlier

But that was the "good" news. Read more >>

Eurozone Unemployment hits record high of 12.2%

Unemployment in the troubled eurozone region hit a record high of 12.2% last month.
The latest official data from Eurostat shows nearly 100,000 additional people were out looking for work in April compared with the previous month, when unemployment was pegged at 12.1%.

The usual suspects -- Spain and Greece -- are facing the highest levels of unemployment. The latest data show unemployment levels of roughly 27% in both countries, with youth unemployment well above 50%.

Meanwhile, Austria and Germany have the lowest jobless levels out of the 17 countries that use the euro currency. Austria's unemployment was just below 5% in April and Germany's unemployment was 5.4%.

In total, 19.4 million people in the eurozone were unemployed in April.
To put that in context, Australia's population was just over 22 million at last count, a stark reminder of just how many people are struggling in Europe.

High youth unemployment has been particularly worrisome for politicians and European officials. Eurostat data show eurozone unemployment among those under the age of 25 topped 24.4% in April. Read more >>

10 Scenes From The Ongoing Global Economic Collapse Sweeping Across The Planet

A simulated-color satellite image of Metro Detroit, with Windsor across the river, taken on NASA's Landsat 7 satellite. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Excerpt from The Economic Collapse

When is the economic collapse going to happen?  Just open up your eyes and take a look around the globe.  The next wave of the economic collapse may not have reached Wall Street yet, but it is already deeply affecting billions of lives all over the planet.

Much of Europe has already descended into a deep economic depression, very disturbing economic data is coming out of the second and third largest economies on the globe (China and Japan), and in most of the world economic inequality is growing even though 80 percent of the global population already lives on less than $10 a day.

Just because the Dow has been setting brand new all-time records lately does not mean that everything is okay.  Remember, a bubble is always the biggest right before it bursts.  The next major wave of the economic collapse is already sweeping across Europe and Asia and it is going to devastate the United States as well.  I hope that you are ready.

The following are 10 scenes from the economic collapse that is sweeping across the planet:

#1 27 Percent Unemployment/60 Percent Youth Unemployment In Greece

The economic depression in Europe just continues to get worse with each passing month.  According to the Daily Mail, the unemployment rate in Greece has nearly tripled since 2009...

Greek youth unemployment rose above 60 per cent for the first time in February, reflecting the pain caused by the country's crippling recession after years of austerity under its international bailout.

Greece's jobless rate has almost tripled since the country's debt crisis emerged in 2009 and was more than twice the euro zone's average unemployment reading of 12.1 percent in March.

While the overall unemployment rate rose to 27 per cent, according to statistics service data released on Thursday, joblessness among those aged between 15 and 24 jumped to 64.2 percent in February from 59.3 percent in January.

#2 Detroit, Michigan Is Insolvent And Is Rapidly Running Out Of Cash

I love to write about Detroit because it is a perfect example of where the rest of the country is headed.  They have just gotten there first.  At this point, Detroit is essentially bankrupt, and the new emergency financial manager is saying that Detroit may totally run out of cash next month...

Detroit may run out of cash next month and must cut long-term debt and retiree obligations, according to emergency financial manager Kevyn Orr’s preliminary plan to save Michigan’s largest city from bankruptcy.

Orr’s report says the cost of $9.4 billion in bond, pension and other long-term liabilities is sapping the ability to provide public safety and transportation. He listed cutting debt principal, retiree benefits and jobs among his options.

“No one should underestimate the severity of the financial crisis,” Orr said yesterday in a statement. He called his report “a sobering wake-up call about the dire financial straits the city of Detroit faces.”

#3 Economic Despair In France

France is going down the same path that Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy have gone.  The following is an excerpt from a recent article in the Economist...

HELDER PEREIRA is a young man with no work and few prospects: a 21-year-old who failed to graduate from high school and lost his job on a building site four months ago. With his savings about to run out, he has come to his local employment centre in the Paris suburb of Sevran to sign on for benefits and to get help finding something to do. He’ll get the cash. Work is another matter. Youth unemployment in Sevran is over 40%. Read more >>

Spanish Unemployment Tops Record, Rising At Fastest Rate In A Year

In yet another worse-than-expected macro data point, Spain has just breached the 27% unemployment level - the highest since at least 1976, when data began following dictator Francisco Franco's death. At 27.2% this is already higher than the IMF's year-end estimate of 27% suggesting growth estimates are already overly optimistic.

What is more concerning is the rate of increase in the joblessness is rising once again. The 1.1 percentage point rise is the largest in a year and 177,700 more households now have no actively employed members than a year ago. The greatest fear though, for European leaders and the Spanish people themselves, is the surge in youth unemployment.

As we have noted a number of times in the past, the possibility of social unrest is exaggerated significantly by this number and at an incredulous 57.2% of under-25s out of work, Spain is closing in on Greece, according to official data, for the worst youth unemployment situation in Europe. Read more >>

Rush to ATMs in Cyprus

A planned tax on Cyprus bank depositors as part of a European Union bailout is sending people rushing to ATMs to withdraw cash.

The EU has required a one-time tax of 9.9% tax on deposits of more than €100,000 starting Tuesday, as part of a bailout of the tiny nation. On Saturday, the EU unveiled a €10 billion plan to rescue Cyprus' outsized banking sector and avoid a default.

It was the first time that the EU has insisted on such terms for bank depositors as part of a bailout. The EU's bailouts other nations in the last three years, such as Greece and Portugal, have usually been accompanied with strict budget restrictions and led to big losses for bond holders.

The Cyprus Parliament is expected to vote on the plan Monday. If it goes through, people with less than €100,000 in deposits will have to pay a tax of 6.75%.
As Cypriots heard the news of the tax, they started lining up outside of ATMs to withdraw money. Banks have placed withdrawal limits of €400 and many ATMs were running out of cash over the weekend. Read more >>

Greek Youth Unemployment Tops 60%

Optimism it seems is all that matters (or is all that is allowed) as we are battered by dismal data left, right, and center. Of course, a reflection on the markets tells any 'smart' person that it all must get better - or why would stocks or sovereigns, or EURUSD be where it is?

However, the 6 out of 10 15-24 year olds in Greece (61.7% to be exact) would beg to differ with that view of the world (as their economy grinds to a halt) - and with Spain reaching new highs at 55.6% (as well as the Euro-zone over 24%), all the bureaucratic lip-service in the world won't stop the revolt that is coming we fear. Read more >>

Food prices may be catalyst for 2013 revolutions

What is the trigger for a revolution? Sometimes it a brutal act of repression. Sometimes it a lost war, or a natural catastrophe, that exposes the failings of a regime. But more often than not, it is soaring food prices.

The easiest prediction to make for 2013 is that everything we eat will once again rise sharply in price. So where will the revolutions start this year? Keep an eye on Algeria and Greece — and if you want to feel very nervous, Russia and China. And if you are smart, keep your money out of those countries as well.

Reuters Food prices around the world could soar this year if there’s a repeat of 2012’s drought in the American Midwest.

The link between the cost of feeding your family and political turmoil is too well-established to be ignored. We saw it most recently with the Arab Spring of 2011. The uprisings that deposed the autocracies of the Middle East had their roots in food inflation. Most of the Middle East countries import 50% or more of their food, making them acutely vulnerable to rising commodity prices. In Egypt the food inflation rate hit 19% in early 2011. For President Hosni Mubarak that was game over. The regime was finished.
Read more >>

Greek Unemployment Soars To New Record, 56% Of 15-24 Year Olds Without Job

Judging by ongoing momentum moves in various European stock and bond market indicators, one could be left with the impression that something in the continent is actually improving.

And while hope of improvement is certainly be high, the reality is vastly different as confirmed by the just released Greek unemployment data, which saw the broad unemployment rate soar to a fresh record high of 26.8% in October (24.1% males, 30.4% females - that's nearly one in three), up from a pre-revision 26.0% in September, and up from 19.7% a year ago, the youth (15-24 age group) unemployment rising again to a new all time high of 56.6% (up from 56.4%), and the ratio of those employed (3.68MM) to unemployed (1.34MM) plunging to a record low 2.75x.

At this rate it may well hit 1.00x quite soon. But even sooner, perhaps in a few months, the total number of inactive workers (3.34MM) will surpass all those who are working. In short, the Greek collapse is just getting worse and worse. Read more >>

Eurozone crisis: Unemployment rate hits new record high

The eurozone unemployment rate has hit a new record high of 11.8% in November, up from October's 11.7%. Eurostat reported that there are now 18.820 million people out of work in the euro area.

The wider EU unemployment rate remained at 10.7%,with 26.061m million men and women out of work. The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.5%), Luxembourg (5.1%), Germany (5.4%) and the Netherlands (5.6%).

Again, the highest rates were seen in Spain (26.6%). (In Greece, the most recent data shows a 26.0% rate in September 2012). Read more >>

Greek strike shuts down country ahead of cliffhanger austerity vote

The nation of Greece comes to a screeching halt again for two days starting Tuesday. Unions have called for a 48-hour general strike ahead of an anticipated vote by the Greek government on yet another round of austerity measures late Wednesday night. Protesters will march on the parliament in central Athens on both days.

Greek media are expecting the vote to be a cliffhanger with narrow passage by just a handful of votes.
If legislators do not pass the measures, it will endanger the payout of the next international bailout installment of 31.5 billion euros, which the government desperately needs to stay in operation. Without the funds, it says it will run out of money by mid-November.

But Greeks are furious over the effects of multiple rounds of belt-tightening, which have resulted in cuts to pensions and pay and seen unemployment in Greece's fifth year of recession soar to over 25%. Critics of austerity have called for economic stimulus programs instead, like those implemented in the United States. Read more >>

Eurozone unemployment figures hit a new high

Europe’s economic gloom deepened Wednesday on the back of news that unemployment in the 17-nation Eurozone hit another record high in September as the region’s debt crisis continued to sap the confidence of business owners, investors and consumers alike.

About 18.5 million people were out of work in the Eurozone in September, adding up to a jobless rate of 11.6%. That figure exceeds August’s record of 11.5% and follows the worrisome trend of the past half-year, during which unemployment has either remained static or worsened with each successive month.

The grim picture painted by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical agency, comes as the continent’s debt crisis sits on the cusp of entering its fourth year with no full resolution in sight. Lawmakers in Greece, where the crisis began, are still grappling with another punishing round of austerity cuts demanded by international lenders, while Spain is keeping markets on tenterhooks over whether it will become the latest country to seek a bailout from its European partners. Read more >>

Thousands protest in Athens anti-austerity rally

Thousands of Greek protesters have responded to their leader's plans for austerity measures by gathering in Athens for an anti-austerity rally. Some of the demonstrators pelted riot police with petrol bombs, bottles and pieces of marble. The protest in the capital is part of a nation-wide strike that has shut down rail service, grounded flights and closed schools. Al Jazeera's Dominic Kane reports from Athens.

Strike to shut down Greece as EU leaders meet

The fourth such strike of the year is expected to paralyse train and ferry traffic, disrupt flights and shut down public services as unions seek to send a message to the government that they will not tolerate a third straight year of cuts. The coalition government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is holding delicate negotiations with Greece’s so-called ‘troika’ of creditors — the EU, IMF and European Central Bank — to secure the release of loans needed to avoid bankruptcy.

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The government has been told by its creditors to jumpstart flagging economic reforms and lighten the budget by 9.2 billion euros ($12 billion) next year in order to secure a 31.5-billion-euro loan slice next month. The money is part of an overall EU-IMF bailout of 130 billion euros that is tied to Greek reform pledges, including a long-delayed privatisation drive.

Waves of prior austerity measures over the last two years managed to slash Greece’s runaway deficit by over six percent of output, at the cost of cuts to wages, pensions and benefits. One in four Greeks are officially unemployed — with the real number higher still according to unions — and the economy is in a deepening recession. Read more >>

Greece’s Largest Company Flees

Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling SA, the world’s second-largest Coca-Cola bottler, plans to move its main stock listing from Athens to London as Greece’s largest company by market value flees the epicenter of Europe’s debt crisis.

The move will make it eligible for inclusion in the benchmark FTSE 100 Index. A new company established in Switzerland by one of the bottler’s main shareholders will make a share-exchange offer for Coca-Cola Hellenic and seek a primary listing in London, according to an Athens bourse filing today. Coca-Cola HBC AG will also seek to list in New York.

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The move comes as European officials try to convince investors that Greece’s future belongs in the euro region three years after the country’s debt crisis broke out. While German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Athens to assure Greek citizens she wants them to stay in the euro, the largest opposition party says Greece should renege on all its bailout agreements and a report today showed unemployment rose above 25 percent in July. Read more >>

World’s richest woman to jealous poor: "Drink less, work more"

The world’s richest woman, Australian mining tycoon Gina Rinehart, urged those “jealous” of the wealthy to “spend less time drinking” in a piece the government described as “insulting” on Thursday. Rinehart, whose family iron ore prospecting fortune of Aus$29.2 billion (US$30.1 billion) also makes her Australia’s wealthiest person, hit out at those who she said were envious of the rich.

“There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire,” she wrote in an industry magazine column. “If you’re jealous of those with more money, don’t just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself — spend less time drinking or smoking and socialising, and more time working.

“Become one of those people who work hard, invest and build, and at the same time create employment and opportunities for others.” Rinehart blamed what she described as “socialist”, anti-business policies for the plight of Australia’s poor, urging the government to lower the minimum wage, as well as taxes, unless it wanted to end up like Greece. Read more >>

Greek Trader Explains Why The Country Is Heading For Rebellion

A trader in Greece gives Business Insider a grim assessment of the mood in the country right now. Right now, I am afraid there is very little visibility regarding the political developments in the next few months. You might as well toss a coin. At some point, however, I believe we shall reach some kind of 'social tipping point' regarding the ability of the Greek households and society to absorb more austerity measures, the consequential continuing steep decline in economic activity and ever rising unemployment. The result may well be social rebellion, maybe even civic mutiny and associated political and parliamentary instability.

This is the the game plan that the neo-communists of Syriza have been preparing for over the past year or so and the one that they have actually reinforced whenever and wherever that was possible. Unfortunately, I cannot see a 'good ending' scenario, under the present circumstances.

Now when this tipping point may be reached, is anybody's guess. It could very well be, as close as only a few months away. I do not believe that you can find anybody, within or outside Greece, that still sincerely and truly believes that the troika process of 'internal devaluation' shall lead to a positive socioeconomic outcome since no effective counter-balancing economic development measures and incentives were ever implemented, or even seriously considered. Read more >>

Greek unemployment rises to 23.1 percent in May

Source
Greece's statistical agency says unemployment in the crisis-struck country has risen to a startling 23.1 percent in May — up from 16.8 percent a year earlier. An agency statement Thursday said the worst affected group is young people under 25, where 54.9 percent are out of work.

A total 1.15 million people were unemployed in May 2012, compared to 1.1 million in April, or 22.6 percent of the workforce. In May 2009, months before Greece's crisis broke, unemployment was just 9.1 percent.

Greece has avoided going bankrupt by international rescue loans. In return, Athens imposed harsh austerity measures to limit runaway government overspending and improve chronically weak tax revenues.
The coalition government is now striving to identify €11.5 billion worth of cuts for 2013-14.

Greece’s Rating Outlook Lowered By S&P

Greece’s credit rating may be cut again by Standard & Poor’s on concern the debt-burdened nation will need more support from European Union lenders.

The outlook on Greece’s CCC rating, already eight levels below investment grade, was revised to negative from stable, S&P said in a statement yesterday. The change reflects the risk of a downgrade if Greece is unable to obtain its next disbursement of bailout loans from the EU and International Monetary Fund rescue package, the rating company said.

Representatives from the so-called troika of the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF return to Athens early next month to review Greece’s economic program, which will determine whether the nation will receive further funds from rescue packages, amounting to 240 billion euros ($297 billion), needed to remain in the 17-nation euro area.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has held meetings with the leaders of the two parties supporting his coalition government since it was formed following elections on June 17 to hash out a 11.5 billion-euro package of budget cuts demanded by the creditors for the next two years. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said yesterday the government is still working on identifying almost a third of the cuts. Read more >>

Starving Greeks Line up for Food in the Thousands

Starving Greeks queued around the block for free food handouts as the country's politicians managed to end a crippling stalemate to form a coalition government. Young children as well as the elderly waited in line in Athens to collect the parcels of fruit and vegetables donated by farmers from Crete to help ease the devastating austerity faced by many Greeks.

But as hungry people collected food, a few miles away a new conservative-led alliance was formed, vowing to renegotiate the country's strict European bailout in a bid to breath economic life back into the debt-stricken country. Conservative Antonis Samaras was sworn in as prime minister and head of a three-party coalition that will uphold the country's international bailout commitments.

Cretan farmers handed out some 2,700 10-kilo packages of produce, in cooperation with the capital's municipal authorities. Among the people lining up was Panayiota Sidera, 31, from Athens. She said she has been unemployed for two-and-a-half years and her husband is also out of a job. The couple is living on a (euro) 250 monthly disability pension and rent from an apartment they own, and has a (euro) 540-a-month loan installment to pay. Read more >>

Manufacturing Slump Deepens From Euro Area to China

Euro-area manufacturing output shrank at the fastest pace in three years in June and a Chinese output gauge indicated contraction as Europe’s worsening fiscal crisis clouded global economic-growth prospects.

A gauge of euro-region manufacturing fell to 44.8 from 45.1 in May, London-based Markit Economics said today in an initial estimate.

That’s the lowest in 36 months. The preliminary reading was 48.1 for a Chinese purchasing managers’ index from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit. A reading below 50 indicates contraction. The euro area’s turmoil is undermining global growth by eroding confidence of investors and consumers as companies step up job cuts.

Manufacturing in the U.S. probably expanded at a weaker pace in June, a Bloomberg News survey shows. While Greece’s Antonis Samaras was sworn in as prime minister with a coalition that will seek relief from austerity measures, Group of 20 leaders this week pushed Europe to step up measures that might contain the crisis. Read more >>