MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spain’s unemployment remains unchanged at record high

An estimated 4.1 million Spaniards are out of a job

Spain’s unemployment rate stood at 17.93% in the third quarter, or virtually unchanged from the previous three-month period, the National Statistics Institute, or INE, said.

The data showed that the jobless rate was up fractionally from 17.92% in the second quarter of 2009. It came in at 17.36% in the first quarter.

The total number of employed was 18,870,200, the lowest figure since the first quarter of 2005 in Spain, which has a population of just over 40 million.

An estimated 4.12 million people were registered as unemployed at the end of September, 14,100 less than at the end of June, the INE said.

Spain, which officially entered into recession in the last quarter of 2008, has been battered by the global financial crisis and the end of a construction-industry-led boom, and its unemployment rate currently stands at twice the average for the euro zone

Separately, a survey showed German business confidence rose for a seventh consecutive month in October.

The Ifo institute said its monthly business climate index rose to 91.9 points in October from 91.3 in the previous month. That is the highest reading since September 2008.

Last week, the German government and leading economic institutes revised their forecasts for this year and next upwards.

The new forecasts predict that Germany's economy will shrink by 5% this year, before rebounding to grow by 1.2% next year.