No rise in Spain jobless figures for sixth month
A TINY dip in the number of Spanish unemployed people in August means that the struggling Mediterranean country has not seen unemployment rise for six months.
The number of people without jobs seeking work in Spain fell by 61 from July, with the rate of unemployment holding at 26.3 per cent, second only to Greece in the Eurozone.
The number of people out of work has fallen by over 300,000 since March, after peaking above five million at the start of the year.
A Daiwa Capital Markets researcher commented: “With the peak tourism season coming to a close, unemployment in Spain looks set to move higher over coming months.”
Despite the fall over the summer, the International Monetary Fund believes that the country’s unemployment level will stay above 25 per cent for the next five years.
Hermes Fund Managers economist Neil Williams added further caution: “With 56 per cent male youth unemployment, meaningful reform risks social unrest.”
The producer price index for the Eurozone in July, which was also announced yesterday morning, showed a small upswing, with the first month-on-month rise since February.
Prices at factory gates rose by 0.3 per cent from June, after several months of deflation.
Outside of the European Union, the Swiss economy resisted the weak performance of its neighbours, announcing that GDP expanded by 0.5 per cent in the second quarter, to add to healthy 0.6 per cent growth in the first three months of the year.