- Title: SPAIN: Jobless rate down
- Date: 2nd April 2013
- Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (APRIL 2, 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT OFFICE, PEOPLE QUEUING SIGN READING "EMPLOYMENT OFFICE", PEOPLE QUEUING VARIOUS OF PEOPLE QUEUING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER WORKER OF SPANISH AIRLINE IBERIA, ROSA MARIA, SAYING: "Unemployment is still increasing anyway. I sure hope it decreases, even if it stays around 15 or 20 percent, but it needs to go down because the situation in this country is very bad. I am in better shape because I am in early retirement but things here are not good." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE QUEUING AT PUBLIC UNEMPLOYMENT OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER CATERING ASSISTANT, JOAQUIN ESPINOSA, SAYING: "Let's see if it's true that it goes down and we can make some progress. Things are currently very bad but there is still hope. We can't lose hope. As the pope says, 'Don't take hope away from us'." WOMAN READING NEWS PAPER VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ENTERING PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT OFFICE
- Embargoed: 17th April 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Spain
- City:
- Country: Spain
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAAAL0EETVAHRQT38RDM2DK9ONB
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Spain's jobless rate fell by 0.1 percent in March from a month earlier, or by 4,979 people, leaving 5.04 million people out of work, data from the Labour Ministry showed on Tuesday (April 2).
The data marked the first March fall in jobless figures since 2008, the Ministry said.
Some people queuing at a public unemployment office in Madrid on Tuesday morning cautiously welcomed the news.
"Unemployment is still increasing anyway. I sure hope it decreases even if it stays around 15 or 20 percent, but it needs to go down because the situation in this country is very bad. I am in better shape, because I am in early retirement, but things here are not good," said Rossa Maria, a former employee of Spanish airline Iberia.
The National Statistics Institute quarterly jobless survey, which polls registered and non-registered unemployed people, showed in January there were almost six million people out of work in Spain at the end of 2012, or 26 percent of the workforce.
Joaquin Espinosa, who used to work as a catering assistant, said he had not lost hope that things would improve in Spain.
"Let's see if it's true that it goes down and we can make some progress. Things are currently very bad but there is still hope. We can't lose hope. As the pope says, 'Don't take hope away from us'," he said.
The Spanish economy is expected to contract sharply this year and most economists predict it will not return to growth until at least the end of 2013 as the 2008 property crash and sky-high unemployment weigh on consumer and business demand. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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