Number of unemployed in Spain nears record high of 5 million

The number of unemployed in Spain swelled to a record high of nearly 5 million in the third quarter, as a sputtering economy failed to create jobs amid mounting global financial uncertainty, according to government numbers released Friday.

The 4,978,300 unemployed amounted to a jobless rate of 21.5 percent, the highest since 1996 and up from 20.9 percent in the previous quarter. It remains the highest rate in the 17-nation eurozone.

Spain is struggling to recover economic growth after crawling out of nearly two years of recession prompted to a large extent by the collapse of a real estate bubble.

Opposition conservatives are tipped to score a landslide win in general elections on Nov. 20 over the ruling Socialists.

The statistics agency said the rise in unemployment was spread across much of the economy, with the services sector particularly hard hit.

Ugly numbers abounded. The number of households with no one working, for instance, rose by nearly 58,000 to 1.43 million.

Elena Valenciano, campaign manager for the Socialists, blamed a global economy she said was slipping back toward recession and said Spain is falling victim to that turmoil, with families unwilling or unable to consume and kickstart the economy. "Under those circumstances it is very difficult to create jobs," she told Spanish National Radio.

Spain's jobless rate is now nearly triple what it was about four years ago, when the global economic crisis first started to bite.

In the second quarter of this year, the rate had eased a bit, four-tenths of a point, as companies hired for the Easter holiday and the summer tourism rush. But that relief has proved short-lived.

The statistics report released Friday said about 2,000 people have stopped looking for work altogether during the quarter. If they had not, the workforce, people who are working or actively looking for jobs, would have been bigger and thus the jobless rate a tad higher.