Spain forecasts higher 2011 unemployment rate

Spain’s Socialist government on Friday forecast an unemployment rate of 19.3 per cent of the work force in 2011, up from the previous estimate of 18.9 per cent.

“The recovery in employment is slower than we would like,” Finance Minister Elena Salgado told a news conference after a cabinet meeting that approved the 2011 budget.

The government in May had already revised the rate from 18.4 per cent up to 18.9 per cent. After reaching an historic low of eight per cent in mid-2007, the jobless rate has skyrocketed to 20.09 per cent in the second quarter of this year, according to the National Statistics Institute.

Salgado did not provide further estimates of the jobless rate.

The government has forecast a rate of 19.4 per cent this year, 17.5 per cent in 2012 and 16.2 per cent in 2013.