The number of people registered
as unemployed grew by 478,535 people, or 11.32 percent, to 4.71 million in the
year to September, a Labour Ministry report said,
When compared to August, the
jobless figures were up by 79,645 people, or 1.72 percent.
Most of the job losses in the
month came in the services sector at the end of the summer tourism period while
unemployment eased a little in farming, building and factories.
If seasonal variations are
smoothed out, the number of job seekers grew from the previous month by 25,078
people, or 0.52 percent, to 4.82 million in September.
The ministry's monthly tally is
based on the number of people registering as unemployed.
A broader, quarterly household
survey by the National Statistics Institute provides the official unemployment
rate, which hit 24.63 percent in the second quarter of 2012, the highest in the
industrialised world.
Close to a million people have
been looking for work for more than two years, or some 20.8 percent more than a
year ago, according to a study published Monday by the UGT union.
Spain has been in recession
since late 2011, its second downturn since the bursting of a property bubble in
2008 that destroyed millions of jobs and left the banking sector strewn with
bad loans.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's
conservative government is forecasting an economic contraction of 1.5 percent
this year and a further shrinkage of 0.5 percent next year.
It tips a recovery in 2014 with
growth of 1.2 percent.
But financial markets view
these forecasts as being overly optimistic. The International Monetary Fund
forecasts for 2013 an economic slump of 1.2 percent and Standard and Poor's a
contraction of 1.4 percent.
The grim economy, bulging
deficit and high borrowing costs are driving Spain towards seeking a full-blown
bailout. The government says it wants to know more about the conditions,
however, before making a decision.
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