Unemployment rose by 171,243 (+6%) during November, slightly less than during October (+192,658), but more than three times more than during November 2007 (+45,896).

There are now nearly three million (2,989,269) people out of work in Spain, which represents the highest total since February 1996.

According to the Employment ministry, it will continue rising during the first three months of next year by when it is predicted that 12.5% of the working population will be affected.

Unemployment rockets to eight-year high
By: thinkSPAIN
Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Unemployment rose for the seventh month in a row during October to 2,818,026, the highest total since April 1996.

At +192,658 (+7.34%), it is the highest monthly increase on record, and six times higher than the corresponding rise during October last year (+31,124).

Over the last twelve months, unemployment has risen by 769,449, at a rate of +37.56%.

While there were job losses across the board last month, the construction industry was hit hard again  (+36,275, +8.18%) though there were also sharp rises for the agricultural (+9,039, +10.56%), services (+113,720, +7.49%), and industrial (+20,144, +6.12%) sectors.

By region, Andalucía (+42,344) and Madrid (+26,187) were worst affected.

Unemployment soars to highest rate for four years
By: thinkSPAIN
Saturday, October 25, 2008

Unemployment rose 217,000 during the third quarter to 2,598,800 - the highest total since 2000.

Over the last twelve months, unemployment has risen by 806,900 (+45%), to 11.33% of the total working population, representing the highest rate since the end of March 2004.

Furthermore, for the first time since the last recession fourteen years ago, there has been a year-on-year decline in the total working population - since the end of September 2007, the total has fallen by 0.8% (-164,300) to 20,346,300.

Andalucía, where 86,600 jobs were lost between July and September, led the way by region last quarter, followed by Cataluña (-50,700), Murcia (-20,100), the Valencian Community (-19,600), and the Canary Islands (-16,900) though 11,800 jobs were actually created in Madrid.

The construction industry continues to be particularly severely punished by the unfavourable economic climate with 57,600 jobs lost during the third quarter, and 256,100 since the end of September last year.

By sex, the unemployment rate for women continues to be slightly higher than for their male counterparts (12.66% vs 10.32%) though the situation is markedly worse for immigrant workers, for whom the unemployment rate has risen to 17.45%, than for Spanish nationals (10.2%).

The photo shows the queues outside an unemployment office in Madrid's Carabanchel district earlier this week.