Just a quick reminder of the Spanish new record. From El Pais.

Spain hit an Olympic record on Friday when the unemployment rate soared to an all-time high of 24.63 percent for the second quarter of the year. According to the latest figures released by the National Statistics Institute’s Survey of the Active Population (EPA), 5,693,100 people are out of work.

The Rajoy administration’s severe cutbacks, the ongoing recession and the relaxation of rules governing layoff schemes – known in Spanish as EREs – which make it easier and cheaper for companies to let workers go – are the three factors being blamed for the record number.

Friday’s figure surpasses the previous jobless record of 24.55 percent recorded in 1994, during the country’s last major economic crisis.

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