MADRID (AP) — Spain’s sky-high unemployment rate remained
stuck at 26 percent in the fourth quarter as the economy expanded but
not enough to trigger job growth, according to a pair of government
reports issued Thursday.
The jobless rate for the October-December
period rose to 26.03 percent from 25.98 percent in the previous quarter
and the number of unemployed stood at a rounded 5.9 million people, the
National Statistics Agency said.
Separately, the Bank of Spain
issued preliminary figures showing the country’s economy grew 0.3
percent in the fourth quarter after registering a 0.1 percent rise in
the previous quarter following nine quarters of declines. For the whole
of 2013, economic activity shrank 1.2 percent.
The statistics
agency is expected to confirm the bank’s GDP figures in a preliminary
report on Jan. 30 while the final report will be issued on Feb. 27.
The
unemployment report said jobs were lost in Spain’s services,
construction and industry sectors but were added in agriculture.
Government
officials say Spain’s sluggish economy is stabilized and on track for
job creation that will reduce the unemployment rate. But economists
predict it will take years to reduce joblessness to a more tolerable
level.
Much of the current economic expansion, they say, is due to
strong export growth by companies that have cut costs dramatically to
make their operations more globally competitive.
Spain’s economy
tanked and unemployment shot up when the country’s housing construction
bubble burst after the global financial crisis of 2008.
Banks left
saddled with bad loans and repossessed property were forced into
mergers and closed by the government, which received 100 billion-euro
($135 billion) credit line in 2012 to shore up those that survived. The
country tapped 40 billion euros, and exited the program on Thursday.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.