Youth unemployment close to shocking 65% in Greece

Youth unemployment in Greece has soared to a record 64.9 per cent as the country's downward spiral continues almost unchecked.

"Nothing as devastating as this has ever been seen in my country before," said Professor Yanis Varoufakis from Athens University.

"The spirit of the Greek people has been broken. They've stopped demonstrating and are licking their wounds at home or leaving the country."

Latest statistics show the overall jobless rate rose to 27.6 per cent in May, despite a mass exodus of the best-educated young workers to the United States, Australia, Britain, and Germany.

The figure is likely to rise further as Athens lays off 15,000 public sector workers by the end of next month to comply with EU-IMF demands.

"The manic attempt to keep Greece in the eurozone under conditions that are not sustainable is turning the country into a sort of Kosovo, an EU protectorate that produces little but surplus labour," said Varoufakis.

EU economics chief Olli Rehn said Greek austerity was "difficult but necessary", and should bear fruit in 2014.

There are at last signs the eurozone is bottoming out after the longest recession since World War II, but the European Central Bank yesterday poured cold water on hopes for full recovery.

It predicted the zone's economy would contract by 0.6 per cent this year, and eke out growth of just 0.9 per cent in 2014, and 1.5 per cent in 2015, too little to curb unemployment. The jobless rate would ratchet up to 12.4 per cent next year.