Spain's unemployment jumps to 26.02 pct

[Bosonic]

Source: AP

MADRID (AP) — Spain says its unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2012 shot up to 26.02 percent with nearly 6 million people now out of work.

The National Statistics Institute said Thursday the rate rose by one percent from the third quarter.

It said 691,700 more people lost their jobs last year.

Spain is in the throes of its second recession in just over three years following the collapse of its once-booming real estate sector in 2008.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Spain-s-unemployment-jumps-to-26-02-pct-4219121.php

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Spain: Unemployment For Under 25s Hits 60%

Unemployment in Spain for people under the age of 25 has now reached 60%, according to officially released figures.

Overall, Spain's unemployment rate has risen to its highest level since measurements began in the 1970s, as a prolonged recession and deep spending cuts have left almost 6 million people out of work at the end of last year.

The nationwide jobless total rose to 26% in the fourth quarter of 2012, or 5.97 million people, according to the National Statistics Institute.

That is up from 25% in the previous quarter, and more than double the European Union average.

http://news.sky.com/story/1042210/spain-unemployment-for-under-25s-hits-60-percent

[Warpy]

1. Jebus! Now the rest of their economy is going to fall apart

and they'll be damned lucky to avoid another revolution.

Austerity does not work, has not worked, will never work.

I wish a government besides Iceland's would stand up to the bankers and the wealthy and jail the ones who engaged in fraud, nationalize the banks, raise taxes on people who can afford it, and keep people working.

Iceland did that in late 2008 and they're are in recovery now. That's about the only country in the world that is in recovery.

[another_liberal]

6. Fortunately for Iceland . . .

Last edited Thu Jan 24, 2013, 03:39 PM - Edit history (2)

Fortunately for Iceland they never accepted the Euro in place of their own currency. Once they had, they would not have been able to devalue their currency, the European Central Bank would not have allowed it. It was that devaluation which made their exports cheaper for other countries to buy and led to their selling more abroad and (along with higher taxes on wealth, as you noted) growing their way out of this mess. Spain and Greece can not use that monetary fix.

[Pachamama]

8. I love Spain and the Spanish people......want this situation to have a happy ending...

I have spent many summers of my life in Spain.....it began when I was young and has continued to be the destination of choice for me in adult years in summertime with my children. My favorite destination being the island of Mallorca in the Baleares.

The Spanish people have a happiness and kindness that is infectious in my opinion....I cant help but feel it when I am there.....in addition to it being a beautiful place, the people and traditions and culture is one so rich in history that I have still much to learn.

There is of course a dark side too....as in with all things....the history with Franco and going long before that in terms of the role of the Spanish crown and explorers.....but culturally and as a Nation, they have so much to offer....and its why this horrible economic situation is so upsetting....

I was just in Spain a few weeks ago....when talking with people there, there is much frustration and the blame goes constantly to the Banks and the Conservatives (hmmmm....sound familiar) for how they got there.....there is much frustration on how to solve this situation. The real estate situation is a mess with lots of foreclosures and evictions and the taxation system is also a mess, with benefits going largely to corporations and the wealthy. (also sounds familiar?). Fixing it is going to take a very creative solution and fighting an entrenched bureacracy that wants to protect its interests.

Of course, all we hear about (and read in these British news blurbs) is about the number of young people "on the dole". That is true, but its only part of the picture....critics of that (the conservatives in Spain particularly) want to end the system that has "the dole", yet ironically, that is in fact what is saving that nation right now from collapse. They have a very complex social net system....one I wont necessarily advocate for entirely or denounce. It needs to be re-structured, but not destroyed as the Spanish Conservatives wish to do. If it was destroyed, there would be a revolution in Spain. Whether that might be a good thing, could be debated. But what has become very clear to me in the time I spend there, talking to people, including good friends I have made over the years ranging from hotel staff, to shop owners, to my good friends who I stayed with just a few weeks ago whose wife is unemployed after being laid off and the husband who is a Police Captain, the solution lies in stopping the plans the conservatives and banks have in destroying the retirement system, but rather in coming up with ways to build the economic machine of the country to be beyond the banks and real estate developers who basically raped Spain economically.

And yet, as dire as things may seem there, I can report that the unemployed, the underemployed and people of Spain are still better off than our equivalent here in the US.....and they all have fabulous healthcare....

Here is to Espana figuring out how to rid themselves of the conservative noose and disease of the bankers and real estate prospectors in 2013 moving forward......here is to a recovering economy for them and keeping their retirement and healthcare....Viva Espana!

PS: and the same wish for my beloved United States....might I add that we can get the healthcare for my fellow citizens and keep social security unchanged!!!!! And bankers in jail....

[Purplehazed]

9. Iceland crisis was different

The crisis in Iceland was a collapse of the banking system not a debt crisis caused by government overspending like Greece, Spain, Italy.
The Iceland government had some cash to help deal with the problems. Apparently they did things right, including austerity measures and placing the banks in receivership at the same time relieving a lot of debt. They didn't truly nationalize the banking system and are selling off shares of one of the larger banks.

Iceland received cash from outside to help with the crisis. There were some prosecutions of banking exec's. I wouldn't think that Iceland banks were paying multi-million bonuses in the midst of their troubles.

[dipsydoodle]

10. That's right

Allusions with Iceland make no sense. The government took over 3 private banks ,without nationalising them , and assumed responsibility for the debts which remain payable given time. Iceland used IMF funds to achieve that.

The situation increased both unemployment and inflation there both of which are slowly correcting.

[Lunabelle]

2. So much for austerity

What the government needs to do is spend to hold up the economy.

[Tab]

3. It just goes to prove my point

or philosphy or whatever. No matter how much you think it sucks for you (finances, health, security) someone always has it worse. I remind myself of that whenever I think that, to me, life sucks.

[2on2u]

4. A memory that puts this in perspective for me is when I watched my grandmother wash and

save and fold aluminum foil for another use.

[another_liberal]

5. The bankers must be paid!

Last edited Thu Jan 24, 2013, 09:21 AM - Edit history (1)

The bankers must be paid! Let the old people die and the young people forget about having a future, the bankers have to collect on their loans. (And by the way, here is a little more money, in a new loan, which, of course, adds to your debt and raises your eventual total payments).

The people Spain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and etc. need to fire the "Technocrats" (read as "Bankers&quot currently running their countries for the benefit of big banks and the IMF. They can then default on the debts which earlier technocrat governments stupidly racked up. The Euro zone has become a racket, a racket run for the further enrichment of already obscenely wealthy investors and institutions. No amount of additional "Austerity" is going to turn this thing around.

[dipsydoodle]

7. What a profound statement.

In the case of Spain most of their woes are due to delinquent debt from loans to their own construction industry in the various regions which all went pear shaped late 2008 due to the antics of American financial institutions.

This graph adequately conveys what's happened there since 2008 : https://www.google.co.uk/publicdata/explore?ds=z8o7pt6rd5uqa6_&met_y=unemployment_rate&idim=country:es&fdim_y=seasonality:sa&dl=en&hl=en&q=spain%20unemployment

The general decrease in unemployment from 1994 to 2008 was mainly due to the level of increase in activity in the construction industry there and in the years preceding that there had already been high movement across to that industry from the tourist industry.

I'm not saying don't blame the banks : just don't blame the wrong ones.

The purpose of the ECB loans to Spain in form of bonds is to replace current debt at lower interest rates using funds borrowed by the ECB itself at those lower rates which are based on the reduced risk of default by the ECB.

[another_liberal]

12. I have a suspicion . . .

I have a suspicion that anything the ECB, IMF and Deutsche Bank do for Spain is intended to make them a profit, at least so in the long run.

I do not hate all banks, or all bankers. It is, however, the job of bankers to make profits for their banks, and many of them (especially the biggest banks and most powerful bankers) couldn't care less how many of the "little" people are hurt along the way. I also realize that a banker who is not sufficiently greedy will quickly be replaced by one who is. That is why the current system has to be fundamentally changed before there will ever be anything like economic justice for the poor and working classes of our planet.

[Blue_Tires]

11. After Real Madrid's season ends, that number will be over 30

[area51]

13. Actual unemployment rate in the US

is over 30%.