People wait in line at a government employment office in Madrid, Spain. (File photo)
Official data indicate that Spain’s unemployment rate hit a record high of 26.02 percent in the third quarter of 2012 as the country continues to grapple with economic problems.
Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) released the new data on Thursday. The figures indicated an increase of one percent from October’s reading of 25.02 percent.
The INE further said that the number of unemployed people in Spain soared by 187,300 to reach 5.97 million at the end of 2012.
Unemployment was especially high among Spain’s youth last year, with 60 percent of those under the age of 25 jobless.
The figures come one day after the Bank of Spain reported a worsening of the country’ recession due to budget cuts.
On Wednesday, the central bank announced that Spain’s economy contracted 1.3 percent in 2012 with the gross domestic product (GDP) falling 0.6 percent in the final quarter of 2012 compared with the previous quarter.
Battered by the global financial downturn, the Spanish economy collapsed into recession in the second half of 2008, taking millions of jobs with it.
The fourth-largest economy in the eurozone must lower its deficit to 4.5 percent in 2013 and 2.8 percent in 2014. Many economists, however, say those targets will be difficult to meet amid poor prospects for Spain’s economic recovery.
The Spanish government has also been sharply criticized over its austerity measures that are hitting the middle and working classes the hardest.
YH/HSN
