Spanish joblessness falls first time in two years

ISTANBUL - Reuters

Spain’s unemployment fell to 26.3 percent in the second quarter. REUTERS photo

Spain’s unemployment rate unexpectedly fell for the first time in two years in the second quarter, adding weight to the government’s contention that the worst of the country’s economic slump may be over.

A strong tourist season helped the unemployment rate dip to 26.3 percent from 27.2 percent in the first quarter, the National Statistics Institute said yesterday.

That left 5.98 million people out of work - a far greater proportion of the population that every other euro zone country bar Greece - but the drop was the first since the same period of 2011.

“Almost all the improvement we’ve seen today, in terms of the number of people working and the unemployment rate, is due to seasonal factors,” Angel Laborda, economist at think tank Funcas, said.
Tourism accounts for around 10 percent of Spanish gross domestic product.