28 April 2006

MADRID — The government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has hit its target of reducing the number of people out of work to below 10 percent.

But in the past three months, the unemployment rate rose by four points to 9.07.

The number of people out of work now stands at 1,935,800, according to the latest figures released by the National Institute of Statistics.

The rise was partly due to the regularisation of about 600,000 immigrants last year, who were given legal status in an amnesty by the government.

The move was designed to make sure the rising number of immigrants paid taxes to the State rather than working in Spain's black economy.

But year-on-year, the picture was more favourable.

The number of people out of work fell by 163,200. Comparing figures for March his year and the same period last year, the real jobless figure has fallen from 10.19 percent to 9.07 percent.

The number of foreigners out of work (12.33 percent) was higher than the corresponding figure for Spaniards (8.62 percent).

Analysts said this was mainly due to fact the majority of the immigrant population is young.

More women were out of work than men. In the first three months of this year, 69,300 more women claimed unemployment benfits compared with 25,200 men.