Unemployment blues

Palma.—The end of the summer season always  sparks an increase  in  unemployment and last month,  the Balearics posted the sharpest increase in the  number of people out of work in Spain.
In October a total of 10,420 people registered with the unemployment office, a 16.1 percent increase in comparison to September and way above the national average of 1.78 percent. The total number of people officially registered as out of work in the Balearics stood at 75,513 at the end of last month which is 8.45 percent fewer than the same time last year and that is what the Balearic government was keen to highlight.
The Balearic Minister for the Economy, Joaquin Garcia, claimed that the fact that there are 6,973 more people in work than there were this time last year “is reason for both the general public and the business sector to be optimistic. “Yes, there is still a lot of hard work to do, but we are on the right track,” he added.
The opposition parties, however, are not impressed.