Jobless rate in Spain falls to lowest level in over three years

Spain’s unemployment rate dropped in the second quarter as the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy added 411,000 jobs from the previous three months, amid an accelerating pace of economic growth ahead of the job-intensive summer tourism season.

Statistics Finland revealed on Tuesday that the unemployment rate stood at 10.0 per cent in June, representing a year-on-year increase of 0.8 percentage points.

The labour force participation rate came in at 67.5 percent in May, down slightly from 67.6 percent in April.

Spain’s jobless rate declined to a near four-year low in the second quarter, the statistical office INE said Thursday.

For much of the early stages of the European economic crisis, Spain led the EU in unemployment, with Greece’s rate becoming the highest only in mid-2012.

“Employment growth in the second quarter was sharper than expected, which suggests the recovery is taking a firmer grip on the economy”, said Raj Badiani, an economist at IHS Global Insight.

Spanish youth unemployment dipped to 49.2 percent in the second quarter, the first time it’s been below 50 percent since the end of 2011. The government foresees 3 percent expansion in 2016.

The ruling conservative party hopes the recovery can stem its drop in popularity in time for general elections to be held by the end of year.