Spain loses jobs amid austerity plan

Unemployed people queue outside an unemployment registry office. AP photo

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/155028.html


The number of jobless individuals in Spain has risen by 24,318, reaching 4.1 million, after Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced new austerity measures.

Spain's unemployment rate, which stands at 20 percent, is the highest in Europe, reports say.

Last week, the government unveiled a new plan which aimed at bringing down the country's deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2013. Spain has refuted claims that it might consider adopting an EU-IMF bailout package such as the ones adopted by the Republic of Ireland and Greece.

The austerity measures include tax cuts for 40,000 small and medium-sized companies. The government will also slash a monthly unemployment subsidy of EUR 426 (USD 580), drastically affecting people who are not receiving any other unemployment benefits, DPA reported

“It is not going to change; they're going to make it worse. People are going to end up stealing. People need to eat. People are not going to keep quiet,” one unemployed man told Reuters.

Other measures include privatizing 49 percent of the country's airport management authority -- AENA - and 30 percent of the national lottery agency.

Last week Wildcat strikes by air traffic controllers blocked flights for two days, which disrupted holiday travel for at least 300,000 passengers.

The controllers, who eventually returned to work after the government called a state of emergency and threatened them with prison, were striking over payment and working hours