Spain
Unemployment in Spain, the source of half the euro region's new jobs between 2001 and 2006, rose more than expected in the second quarter as home-building collapsed.
The unemployment rate advanced to 10.4 percent from 9.6 percent, the Madrid-based National Statistics Office said on its Web site. That compared with the 10 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of eight economists. The number of jobs increased 0.1 percent from the previous quarter to 20.4 million, compared with a 0.4 percent decline in the first quarter.
Spain faces “a significant deterioration that is now under way in the labor market,'' David Owen, an analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort in London, said in a research note published before today's release. Still “the return of the bad old days of the early 1990s, when the unemployment rate was over 15 percent, seems unlikely.''
The slowdown in construction is spreading through Spain's manufacturing and services industries, with surveys showing both contracted for a sixth month in June low fee cash advance same day payday loans. Economic growth will slow to 1.8 percent this year, the International Monetary Fund forecast this month after a 3.8 percent expansion in 2007.
The number of jobs in construction fell 4.5 percent to 2.55 million, while manufacturing jobs declined 2.1 percent and agricultural jobs were down 5 percent. Service jobs increased 1.9 percent to 13.81 million.
Home prices in Spain fell for the first time in almost 10 years in the second quarter, Spain's Housing Ministry said this month. Martinsa-Fadesa SA, a Spanish developer, sought protection from creditors this month after defaulting on 5.2 billion euros ($8.2 billion) of loans.
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