by Edward Hugh
Spain’s EU harmonised seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate (which is the interesting number) went up again in July, according to the latest data from Eurostat. It rose to 20.3% from 20.2% in June.
So despite a double digit fiscal deficit, Spain has not yet succeeded in putting a brake on the upward drift in the headline unemployment number.
And the number of those officially working continues to decline, according to the data on those paying insurance contributions from the Labour Ministry.
Clearly having broken the 20% barrier the number looks like heading up even further in the second half of the year, although quite how far up is hard to say, since my feeling is that some of the increase in unemployment is now being offset by the silent march of feet, heading for the door, and looking for employment abroad.