Spain's unemployment rate rose 38 basis points to reach just over 25% of the economically active population in 3Q, freshly released data from the country's National Statistics Institute reveal. That level is a record high for Spainand is the highest in the eurozone, on the basis of the most recent European Union statistics.
Job losses were particularly high in the construction industry; Spain is still in the wake of a collapse in its housing market. Other economic sectors with significant losses were service industries and agriculture.
Spain Deputy Finance Minister Fernando Jiminez Latorre was quoted in The Wall Street Journal as saying that his government anticipates that the economy will not start to recover until 2H 2013; "it won't be until then that we will see an improved employment trend".
