Spain unemployment now 5m (22.8%), Highest in industrialised world.

[Troll_Whisperer]

HappySqurriel said:

Troll_Whisperer said:

HappySqurriel said:
Having done a quick google search, the most up to date reference of the employment to population ratio in Spain that I could find was January 2009 and it was 47.9% ...

If the unemployment statistics were honest, Spain's unemployment rate would probably be closer to 40% (or higher).

Nah, I'm Spanish and 40% is impossible. Even the 22% figure is inflated by people who work without a contract and get benefits at the same time.

Maybe what you saw was youth unemployment figures, which is possible.

Employment to population ratio is the percentage people aged 15 to 65 who are employeed ...

While you will never get close to 100% due to students, stay at home moms and people who retire early, you can theoritically get into the low-mid 70% range; which at 47.9% would represent around 35% below peak employment. Being that it has (from my understanding) gotten much worse since 2009, which is the year I got my statistics from, the true unemployment ratio is probably closer to 40%; and (probably) 33% below what you could realistically expect as peak employment.

I know employment figues are taken from 16 to 65. There is no 40% unemployment in that group, believe me. I would like to see that page you read that from, that just can't be true. I'm not defending Spain, I've been very critical in this very thread.

Edit: Oh, I see what you mean. You mean you're counting those who're not actively looking for a job. In that case I don't know, it may be. It seems like a huge number to me, although I come from an area where unemployment is around 12% now. The south of Spain is where most uneployed people are (some areas have over a 30% unemployment).