Spain’s budget deficits are out of control, home prices are still falling, GDP is down 2% annualized in the first quarter, production is down, the unemployment rate soared a full percentage point to 27.16%, and a record 6.2 million are out of work.
Here are some stats from Spain’s National Statistics Office as noted in the Financial Times.
- Almost 240,000 people lost their jobs in the first three months of the year.
- The overall number of jobless is 6.2 million.
- The unemployment rate rose by more than 1 point to 27.16%
- 2 million out of 17.4 million Spanish households are without a single person holding a job.
- Job losses were particularly heavy in the services sector, but also in industry and farming.
- Construction has shed more than 1.6 million jobs since 2008 as a result of the bursting of Spain’s housing bubble.
These numbers are an indication of a freefall, not a bottom. Yet, Rajoy says the Spanish economy has bottomed and Spain will return to growth this year. Such talk is ridiculous.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
