Greek Unemployment Falls to 27% as Economy Strengthens

The unemployment rate in Greece has fallen to 27% in the third financial quarter of 2013, according to the country's statistics service.

The embattled country recently faced severe strikes led by trade unions across Greece's public and private sector, which brought the nation to a standstill.

The latest labour market figures reveal Greece's jobless rate dropped from 27.1% in the previous three-month period as the country's economy showed signs of strengthening.

The dip was the second consecutive drop in Greece's quarterly unemployment figures following from the nation's record jobless rate of 27.4% earlier this year.

The country's political class has been facing increasing pressure from Greeks disenfranchised by the government's austerity cuts.

The nation's lenders, dubbed the Troika which consists of the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank, recently visited Greece to review its bailout after talks between the group and the country's government stalled in September.

The Troika fears that if Greek's fragile coalition government led by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras does not impose new budget cuts on wages and pensions or increase taxes, then Greece will miss a targeted budgetary surplus of €2.75bn (£2.3bn, $3.71bn) in 2014.

But Samaras has rejected the Trokia's demands and claimed that Greece deserves a degree of leeway after it implemented the biggest deficit reduction recorded in the eurozone.