Spain's unemployment total passes five million

Page last updated at 07:38 GMT, Friday, January 27, 2012 - 12:38 EST

BBC:

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The National Statistics Institute said 5.3 million people were out of work at the end of December, up from 4.9 million in the third quarter.

The rate rose from 21.5% in the third quarter to 22.8% - the highest rate in nearly 17 years.

Spain already has the highest jobless rate in the 17-nation eurozone and is expected to slide back into recession.

The 22.8% rate is more than twice the average unemployment rate of the eurozone, which stood at 10.3% in November, according to data released earlier this month.

The Spanish figures show almost half of all 16-24 year-olds in the country are jobless - 48.6% compared with 45.8% before.

Read the whole story: BBC