Record high for Spanish unemployment

Spain’s unemployment rate has risen once again to 24.6 percent in the three months to June, despite a small decline at the beginning of the summer attributed to temporary positions linked to the holiday trade, according to the National Statistic Institute. Half of those under the age of 26 and available for work are unemployed, according to Eurostat.

It is the highest figure since records began in 1976. Businesses have been cutting more staff amid fears of an enduring recession and a crisis of confidence amongst consumers.

The Spanish economy has been stagnated or in recession since 2008, when the property sector deteriorated when a surge of cheap credit dried up. The latest wave of recession started early in 2012 and is not expected to subside before next year. The government has announced that unemployment is not expected to drop under 22 percent before 2015, at the earliest.

Almost a third of all unemployed people in the eurozone are Spanish.