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View All NewsSpain — Highest unemployment figures in Europe with a pessimistic outlook
13 July 2009
The latest European Employment Report published by Eurostat, the official statistics office of the European Union, states that Spanish unemployment figures have reached 4.4 million and account for 18.7% of the working population.
The report shows that Spanish unemployment started to go up in 2007 and has been increasing “dramaticallyâ€VbCrLf since May 2008. The country now has the highest unemployment figures and twice the average unemployment rate of the EU.
Youth unemployment has reached the alarming rate of 37% of the15 to 24 year olds. This equates to a 13.5 higher percentage point compared to last year. The EU estimates that the overall unemployment rate will reach the lower level of 17.3% later this year but will go up to 20.5% in 2010. This contradicts the more optimistic predictions of the Spanish government, which expects that unemployment will not exceed 18.9% in 2010.