Spain's jobless rate neared 25 percent in June, officials said Friday, darkening the recession outlook despite relief on financial markets at a vow of support by the European Central Bank. The unemployment rate rose in the second quarter to 24.63 percent and a huge 53 percent among the young, despite the start of the tourist season, figures from the national statistic office showed.
The increase in the overall jobless numbers was smaller than in the first quarter, with the number of eligible people out of work rising to nearly 5.7 million people. Between April and June, 53,500 people lost their jobs, compared with 365,900 in the first quarter, the national statistics office said.
The unemployment rate rose from 24.4 percent recorded in the first quarter - already the highest in the industrial world - as Spain entered its third straight quarter of economic contraction. Economic growth figures for the second quarter are expected on Monday. The Bank of Spain last week estimated a contraction of 0.4 percent, after a 0.3 percent decrease in January to March.
Spain's economy is reeling in the aftermath of a decade long real estate boom that crashed with the debt crisis, bringing the Spanish financial sector to the brink of insolvency. Under pressure from European authorities who have accepted to bailout Spanish banks, Spain's conservative government has approved tens of billions of euros' worth of spending cuts, tax hikes and other measures. The latest set of measures announced by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on July 11 aimed to save 65 billion euros ($80 billion) over three years.