Spain Business Brief - Thursday January 8 2009
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By h.b. - Jan 8, 2009 - 12:41 PM
Another large jump in unemployment in Spain.

A million people lost their jobs in Spain last year. It was the construction and service sectors where most jobs went last year.
Over 2008 the increase in unemployment was 47%, with December seeing the ninth consecutive monthly increase by nearly 140,000 and taking the unemployment rate back to where it was in 1996.
Unemployment in 2008 increased in all the regions of the country and was noted particularly by the foreign population which saw a 93.8% increase, to leave the year with 410,960 immigrants out of work.
There are now 3,128,963 people out of work, the largest number registered by INEM.
Spain is the European country to see the largest increase in unemployment, with the exception of Latvia.
The Government had admitted that unemployment is set to increase more this year. Secretary General for Employment, Maravillas Rojo, has admitted it will be a ‘very difficult’ year.

The economic crisis has led to Spanish families saving more, according to the latest numbers which show savings at a five year high. The savings rate was up 9.6% in the third quarter of last year, 5.1 points higher than for the same period in 2007.
Disposable income reached 176,359 million, 10.4% more than for the third quarter in 2007 according to the National Statistics Institute, INE.

The sale of vans in Spain has fallen to an all-time low, with the registrations of light commercial vehicles falling in 2008 by 40%. Sales were 165,623 last year, compared to 275,099 in 2007, according to the numbers from the dealers and manufacturers associations.
The sales were forced down by the restriction of credits to consumers.

Shares in Vueling airlines have soared on the Spanish stock market 78% in a week ahead of the imminent approval of the merger with Clickair. The rally comes on the rumour that the European Commission is about to give its approval to the merger deal.

Telefónica has won the contract the management of communications for the DHL company. The contract is for the next five years and across 28 European countries. IT’s worth 350 million € and includes fixed line and mobile voice and data services based on I.P. internet protocol technology.

And finally,
The start of the winter sales in Spain has seen more buyers than other years, attracted by the discounts of upto 70%.
The story also attracted more journalists than other years.

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