Unemployment in Spain Exceeds 25%, Taking Economic Misery to New Levels - NYTimes.com

Unemployment in Spain Exceeds 25%, Taking Economic Misery to New Levels - NYTimes.com: Mr. Rajoy, however, is also fighting the crisis at home. Unions have called a general strike for Nov. 14, and elections in Catalonia on Nov. 25 could accelerate that region’s drive toward independence.

Luis Garicano, a professor at the London School of Economics, said the government’s cost of paying unemployment benefits, now almost 4 percent of gross domestic product, was unsustainable. After 20 consecutive quarters of job destruction, he said, “people see very little light at the end of the tunnel, and Spaniards are losing hope.”