الرئيسية
MADRID (AP) — Spain's
brutal unemployment rate soared to nearly 23 percent Friday and closed
in on 50 percent for those under age 25, leaving more than 5 million
people — or almost one out of every four — out of work as the country
slides toward recession.
Spain's National Statistics Institute
reported that 5.3 million people were jobless at the end of December, up
from 4.9 million in the third quarter — a jump in the unemployment rate
from 21.5 percent to 22.9 percent in the fourth quarter.
For those under age 25, the rate hit a whopping 48.5 percent, and the institute also reported that Spain now has 1.6 million households in which no one has work.
The
numbers didn't surprise Spaniards, who are gearing up for another
recession after the economy briefly surfaced from a crippling two-year
downturn triggered by the 2008 credit crunch and a burst domestic real
estate bubble that had supercharged Spain's economy for nearly a decade.
Spain
already has the highest unemployment rate in the 17-nation eurozone,
where the average jobless rate is just above 10 percent. Ireland holds
the No. 2 spot with 14.6 percent unemployment and had to take an
international bailout last year.
brutal unemployment rate soared to nearly 23 percent Friday and closed
in on 50 percent for those under age 25, leaving more than 5 million
people — or almost one out of every four — out of work as the country
slides toward recession.
Spain's National Statistics Institute
reported that 5.3 million people were jobless at the end of December, up
from 4.9 million in the third quarter — a jump in the unemployment rate
from 21.5 percent to 22.9 percent in the fourth quarter.
For those under age 25, the rate hit a whopping 48.5 percent, and the institute also reported that Spain now has 1.6 million households in which no one has work.
The
numbers didn't surprise Spaniards, who are gearing up for another
recession after the economy briefly surfaced from a crippling two-year
downturn triggered by the 2008 credit crunch and a burst domestic real
estate bubble that had supercharged Spain's economy for nearly a decade.
Spain
already has the highest unemployment rate in the 17-nation eurozone,
where the average jobless rate is just above 10 percent. Ireland holds
the No. 2 spot with 14.6 percent unemployment and had to take an
international bailout last year.