Reducing unemployment in Spain will be 'tough'

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the Spanish prime minister, has warned that cutting unemployment in the country will prove to be a "difficult" task, Expatica has reported.

Despite a recent dip in joblessness, the situation in Spain remains sour, with an unemployment rate of 19.79 per cent - the highest of all 27 European Union countries.

"The improvement is still so weak that it does not guarantee an irreversible change in the trend," the news provider cited Mr Zapatero as saying.

"We have a long and difficult road ahead of us to put the employment situation right and reduce joblessness."

Spain's timid economic recovery from nearly two years of recession triggered by the collapse of a property bubble came to a stop in the third quarter amid tough austerity measures, official data showed Wednesday.

The news may be of interest to those looking to buy property in Spain, with the high level of unemployment likely to keep house prices relatively low for the foreseeable future.

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