ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's jobless rate rose to 27.9 percent in June from 27.6 percent in May, reflecting the impact of a six-year, austerity-fuelled recession, the country's statistics service ELSTAT said on Thursday.

The reading was more than twice the euro zone's average of 12.1 percent in July, and the highest since ELSTAT began publishing jobless data in 2006.

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos)