Spain jobless figure hit 'astronomical' 5.4 mn

The number of people unemployed in Spain hit an "astronomical" level of 5.4 million at the end of 2011, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Saturday. The figure is more than 400,000 higher than the level reached in the third quarter of 2011, when the unemployment rate hit a 15-year high of 21.5 percent, the highest in the industrial world. "This year (2011) is going to close with 5.4 million people... who want to work but cannot," Rajoy said, anticipating official unemployment data due to be published on January 27. "It is an astronomical figure," he said in a speech to supporters of his conservative Popular Party in Malaga, southern Spain, in which he reaffirmed fighting unemployment as his top priority. A figure of 5.4 million for the last quarter of 2011 would therefore indicate that the growth in unemployment has speeded up.

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