Spain’s unemployment level hits a new high

July 31, 2010  •  National News  •  4 Comments

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• Spanish have protested about the urgent austerity cuts despite unemployment reaching record highs

AFTER the worst recession for 50 years Spain’s unemployment level reached new heights.

A total of 4.6million out of work, means that 20.09 per cent of the population is out of work.

This is the highest in Europe and more than twice the average for Europe.

A massive 42 per cent of 16 to 25-year-olds are on the dole, while regions such as Andalucia are seeing over 25 per cent out of work.

A massive 42 per cent of 16 to 25-year-olds are on the dole, while regions such as Andalucia are seeing over 25 per cent out of work.

The government has imposed an austerity program of 15 billion euros in spending cuts but warned this will slow down the country’s recovery.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called the new figures “unacceptably high” but said his government thinks economic figures for the second quarter, due out next month, will show stronger growth.

Zapatero said he will seek to pass a lean budget for 2011, with average spending cuts of 15 percent in government ministries, “ratifying our full commitment to austerity.”

The statistics institute said in Friday’s report that there are now 4.645 million unemployed people in Spain, more than half a million higher than a year ago.

In the late 90s to 2008 Spain enjoyed record growth fuelled by an impressive property boom.

But the bubble burst in 2008 and as the housing market collapsed, tax revenue fell and the country’s small budget surplus became a large deficit.

The recession in Spain has hit the hundreds of thousands of British expats who have made new lives on the Costas, and it has been made worse by the weak value of the pound, which dropped by 23 per cent against the euro in 2008.

Expats making their living from British tourists were badly hit as visitors sought cheaper holidays in Turkey and Egypt.

Some have returned to the UK rather than live in poverty in Spain, but many have found they are unable to sell their properties.

Unemployment in Spain has risen for the 12th consecutive quarter between April and June to hit its highest level since 1997, it was announced today.

As a tentative recovery from recession failed to put people back in jobs, the unemployment rate inched up to 20.09 per cent in the second quarter from 20.05 per cent recorded in the first three months of the year.

Ben May, an economist at Capital Economics, said: ‘The economy is still very weak with small growth in the first quarter and we expect unemployment to continue to inch up over the next few quarters.’

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