Spain Spanish jobless total hit 3 year high 24/07/08 19:47 CET

Spanish unemployment jumped to a higher-than-expected 10.4% in the second quarter of the year as the country’s economy slowed. It is the highest Spanish jobless level in over three years.

The economic outlook for the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy has worsened on a weekly basis as one indicator after another has shown the Spanish slowdown sharpening.

The building industry, which fuelled the last decade of Spain’s growth, saw the heaviest lay-offs, with over 120,000 jobs lost.

Overall, unemployment increased by 207,400 people in the second quarter and took the number of Spanish jobless to 2.38 million.

The Employment Minister Celestino Corbacho said that for 2009, the government sees unemployment closer to 11% than 10%.