Spain tops list of EU's 10 worst employment blackspots

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/15/spain-unemployment-eu-list-worst-hit

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A day after Spain's second-biggest bank predicted it would take 10 years for employment to return to 2007 levels, more grim statistics revealed that seven of the EU's 10 worst employment blackspots are in Spain.

The top five worst hit areas are in Spain, where almost 6 million people are without a job. All five regions have jobless rates of more than 33%, led by Andalusia at 36.3%. The region, home to the Costa del Sol, receives some 7 million tourists every year but has been hard hit by the slump in construction and the falling price of olive oil, the region's main export. Of the three others in the list, two are in Macedonia and the last in Reunión, the French colony.

Of the 27 EU regions that reported unemployment above 21%, 13 are in Spain, 10 in Greece and one each in Italy and three French outposts.

At the other end of the scale, of the regions with jobless rates of 5.4% or lower, 23 are in Germany, 8 in Austria, 3 in the Czech Republic, followed by Romania (3), Belgium (2), Holland (1) and Italy (1).