Spain's Ridiculous Unemployment Stats

Nearly half of Spanish youth under 25 years is unemployed.

Spain, Europe's top job creator until 2008, began to emerge from recession at the end of 2010.  but is now expected to head into a new one this quarter, and the average yearly salary is only about euro21,000 ($27,600).

Spain's brutal unemployment rate soared to nearly 23 percent Friday and closed in on 50% for those under age 25, leaving more than 5 million people – or almost one out of every four – out of work.

Spain's National Statistics Institute reported that 5.3 million people were jobless at the end of December, up from 4.9 million in the third quarter – a jump in the unemployment rate from 21.5 percent to 22.9 percent in the fourth quarter.

For those under age 25, the rate hit a whopping 48.5 percent, and the institute also reported that Spain now has 1.6 million households in which no one has work.

Spain already has the highest unemployment rate in the 17-nation eurozone, where the average jobless rate is just above 10 percent. Ireland holds the No. 2 spot with 14.6 percent unemployment and had to take an international bailout last year.