Greek unemployment rate rose to 12 pct in July this year, from 9.6 pct in the same month in 2009, Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Thursday.

The statistics agency said the number of unemployed people totaled 607,035 in July, up 130,328 from July 2009 and higher by 24,671 compared with June 2010.

The financially non-active population in the country totaled 4,261,458, while the number of employed people totaled 4,429,296 in July, with the latter number down by 52,866 people compared with July 2009 and up 9,473 compared with June 2010.

The government's 2011 draft budget plan envisages that the unemployment rate would total 11.6 pct this year, up from 9.5 pct in 2009, rising further to 14.5 pct in 2011 and 15 pct in 2012 and easing to 14.6 pct in 2013.
The unemployment rate among women was 15.7 pct in July, up from 9.4 pct among men, while the 15-24 age group recorded the highest unemployment rate (32.6 pct), followed by the 25-34 age group (15.8 pct).
Central Greece (14.3 pct), eastern Macedonia-Thrace (13.4 pct), western Macedonia (13.3 pct) and Epirus (13 pct) recorded the highest unemployment rates among the country's regions, while south Aegean (5.9 pct), north Aegean (6.2 pct), Ionian Islands (6.6 pct) and Crete (9.1 pct) recorded the lowest unemployment rates.