Rise in Spanish jobless total ‘slows in March'

By the end of March there were 3'605'402 unemployed workers in Spain, up 3.5 percent or 123'543 from the previous month and the highest number since 1996 when the current method of calculation was introduced, the ministry said in a statement. It was the 12th straight monthly increase and the sixth consecutive monthly rise of more than 100'000 registered unemployed in Spain, a recession-strapped nation of around 46 million. “While the rise in the month of March is the lowest of the previous six months, it still represents a high number of people who have lost their jobs and are going through difficult times,” said employment secretary Maravillas Rojo in the statement.

Formerly one of the eurozone's chief engines of economic growth and job creation, Spain suffered an abrupt change of fortunes last year when the outbreak of the global financial crisis hastened a correction that was already underway in its once-buoyant property sector.

The Spanish economy, the fifth-largest in Europe, entered into its first recession in 15 years at the end of 2008.
The government expects the economy will shrink by 1.6 percent this year after expanding 1.2 percent in 2008 but many economists are predicting a sharper contraction.