Greece's largest labor union, the GSEE, called on the Socialist government to ease the measures demanded by European countries and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for euro110 billion ($153 billion) that the country began receiving last May.
"We urge the government to take immediate steps to implement a different mix of economic policies ... away from policies that create unemployment, poverty and deprivation," a GSEE statement said.
The country's statistics agency said the unemployment figure was up from 13.9 percent in November and 10.2 percent a year earlier.
Separately, the Finance Ministry's general secretary responsible for tax and customs issues, Dimitris Georgakopoulos, resigned Wednesday evening citing personal reasons.
Georgakopoulos' move comes as the government has struggled to meet revenue targets. According to data released last month, revenues declined 9.2 percent in January.
The latest setback follows Monday's move by Moody's ratings agency to downgraded Greece's debt grade further below junk status.
The ratings agency on Wednesday also downgraded six Greek banks -- the National Bank, EFG Eurobank, Alpha Bank, Piraeus Bank, ATEbank, and Attica Bank -- citing the "difficult macroeconomic environment" and their heavy reliance of support from the European Central Bank.
Ten members of parliament from the governing Socialist party on Wednesday signed a petition urging the government to take legal action against Moody's, claiming the ratings agency had intended to deliberately "weaken the negotiating position of Greece, and destabilize the Greek financial restructuring plan."
