Spanish dole queue nears record number

The number of people registered as unemployed grew by 74'296, or 1.5 percent, to 4.91 million in November from the previous month, the Labour Ministry said.

The figure was up 11 percent from a year earlier.
It was the highest number of job seekers registered in Spain since current records began in 1996.
The eurozone's fourth largest economy has been shrinking for 15 months and the government is expecting the recession to carry on throughout 2013 before releasing its grip in 2014.

A broader, quarterly household survey by the National Statistics Institute provides the official unemployment rate, which hit 25 percent in the third quarter for the first time in modern Spanish history.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's centre right government is forecasting an end-2012 unemployment rate of 24.6 percent, with a decline to 23.3 percent in 2013.

But the growing queue of job seekers makes that forecast look increasingly optimistic, especially as the government raises taxes and slashes spending to curb the public deficit.

London-based analyst Raj Badiani of IHS Global Insight said unemployment was likely to stay above 25 percent into 2013, “a significant obstacle to any recovery impetus as Spain is struggling to shake off very deep recessionary conditions which are now exhibiting depression-like characteristics.”