Spain's Unemployment Climbs To 4.71M As Tourist Season Ends

Unemployment in Spain climbed to nearly 25 percent last month as the end of tourist season increased the already high number of jobless people.

The total number of unemployed in September rose nearly 80,000 to 4.71 million for a national unemployment rate of 24.7 percent. Most of the increases in joblessness came in the service sector. It was the second straight month that unemployment has increased in Spain, which is suffering through its second recession in three years.

The only consolation for Europe's fourth-largest economy was that September's increase in unemployment was less than the 95,817 increase in unemployed in August.

"There is a certain slowing down in the rate of increase in unemployment, but the negative side is that jobs are still disappearing," Estefania Ponte, head of economy at trading house Cortal Consors, told Reuters.

Nearly 53 percent of Spanish youth are classified as unemployed.