Spanish unemployment rate falls below 20% mark

Spain’s statistics office has revealed that the country’s unemployment rate has finally fallen - to 19.8% in the July-September period.

It was the first fall in unemployment in three years but the rate still remains the highest in Europe.

Spain’s jobless rate is almost double the 10% for the euro zone as a whole with the total number of unemployed in the country at 4.6 million.

The economy has been hit by a severe slump within its key construction industry, which has led to a significant amount of job losses.

However, the country is taking action to reform its labour laws - the Government is introducing measures to make it easier and cheaper for firms to make people redundant.

There is a major concern though that the economy could fall into recession again in the next few months, according to some economists.

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