Spanish unemployment rises to nearly 5 million

Spanish unemployment rose for the fourth consecutive month in November, according to figures published by Spain's Ministry for Employment and Social Security on Tuesday. The number of people registered as out of work in Spain stands at 4.9 million, almost 75,000 more than in October, setting a new record high. "It is without doubt bad news," Minister for Employment and Social Security Fatima Banez said. "Even though we have taken the correct decisions and citizens have made enormous efforts, the recession is still having painful consequences for the Spanish people," she added. November saw more women (50,764) lose their jobs than men (23,532) and there are slightly more women out of work in Spain (2,491,589) than males (2,416,228). Once again, the service sector was hardest hit with the disappearance of 63,166 jobs, followed by agriculture at 5,777 and industry at 4,670 jobs. The kind of contracts being signed by those lucky enough to find new jobs are also changing. A total of 1,151,771 new contracts were recorded in November, of which 100,179 were indefinite contracts and the rest being temporary. Last week, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicted that unemployment would continue rising in Spain throughout 2013, reaching a level of 26.9 percent with over six million Spaniards without a job. It also predicted a 1.3 percent contraction in Spain's GDP this year and 1.4 percent contraction next year.