Unemployment

Only a fourth of the world?s workforce has stable contracts, leading to growing job insecurity, a U.N. report said on May 19.

The International Labor Organization report revealed a clear shift away from reliable full-time jobs, as short-term contracts and irregular hours become more widespread.

Turkey's unemployment rate hit 11.2 percent in the February period, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜ?K) on May 15.

The number of unemployed people aged 15 years old and over increased by 401,000 to 3.2 million in the February period, which included December 2014 and January and February 2015, from the same period a year previous. 

May 15, International Day of Families, shows that the economic crisis in Greece has taken its toll on families with the high rate of unemployment causing people to delay marriage and having children. Studies show that an increasing number of Greeks aged from 25-35 years of age are choosing to continue living with their parents as a result in unemployment.

According to the latest figures of the National Employment Agency, which were released on Thursday, the unemployment rate in Bulgaria in April stood at 10.7 %.

This was a decrease of 0.3 % compared to March and a drop of 1.1 % compared to the same month in 2014.

 Country?s economy contracted 0.2 percent in the first quarter of the year compared to Q4 of 2014

In its latest report on employment trends, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey's (TOBB) ETÜ Social Policies Research Center (SPM) has addressed the 26 consecutive months of rising unemployment in the country. 

The center forecasted the unemployment rate to remain at above 11 percent in February 2015, for which the official data will be announced on May 15. 

According to the latest figures of Eurostat, the employment rate of Bulgarians, aged between 20 and 64, increased from 63.5 % in 2013 to 65.1 % in 2014, but remained below the EU average of 69.2 %.

The employment rates increased for both Bulgarian men and women in 2014, reaching respectively 68.1 % and 62 %.

Greece's jobless rate dropped slightly to 25.4 percent in February from a downwardly revised 25.6 percent rate in the previous month, statistics agency ELSTAT said on Wednesday.

February's reading, based on seasonally adjusted data, is the lowest since July 2012 when unemployment stood at 25.3 percent. The jobless rate hit a record high of 27.9 percent in September 2013.

By Dimitra Manifava

By Roula Salourou

The number of registered unemployed at the Greek Manpower Organization (OAED) posted a small annual decline of 1,171 workers in March, bringing the total to 1,057,050 people. In February it had come to 1,061,221.