Unemployment

Most working Greeks are employed in wholesale or retail commerce, according to census data released on Wednesday by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), followed by the public administration and defense sectors.

The areas that attract the most foreign citizens in Greece are construction and agriculture.

Greece's unemployment rate will remain around 27 percent through to the end of 2015, according to OECD estimates made public on Wednesday.

BELGRADE - Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said on Wednesday the number of unemployed in July dropped by 4,029, or 0.52 percent, compared to the month before, making it the 5th month in a row that the number of unemployed registered with the National Employment Agency (NSZ) was going down.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has vowed to bring down unemployment while voicing optimism that some 770,000 new jobs will be created by 2020.

“Unemployment is society's most insidious and tough enemy because it undermines the dreams of youth,” Samaras said during a meeting of the government's employment council on Monday.

The Labor, Social Security and Welfare Ministry is preparing to launch a work experience program for unemployed youths aged between 18 and 24, through private sector jobs, as part of a new action plan organized by the ministry, dubbed ‘Youth Guarantees.’

Greek retail sales by volume rose 3.8 percent in June compared to the same month last year, after a downwardly revised 3.6 percent drop in May, statistics service ELSTAT said on Friday.

By Angeline Benoit & Alessandro Speciale

Euro-area economic confidence fell more than forecast, Spanish consumer prices dropped the most in five years and German unemployment unexpectedly rose in a burst of data backing Mario Draghi’s warning that more stimulus may be needed.

Yordan Hristoskov, Bulgaria's caretaker Minister of Labor and Social Policy, has suggested that a minimum wage hike from BGN 340 to BGN 400 will not harm the business sector.

In a Thursday interview for private TV station bTV, Hristoskov said that it was high time to do something about Bulgaria still being at the bottom of the EU ranking by guaranteed minimum income.

Almost 35,000 people in Bosnia lost their jobs in the first half of this year, new figures published by the Agency for Labour and Employment show.

Statistics published in late August reveal that 34,605 became unemployed from January to June, approximately 5 per cent of the total workforce.

About 30 anti-poverty protestors gathered outside the Office of the High Representative, OHR, in Sarajevo on Monday to call on Valentin Inzko, who currently holds the post, to act.

The Council of BiH Citizens - a group that has hedl regular protests outside the Presidency since larger-scale demonstrations in February – displayed banners in English and Bosnian.