MADRID: Projections released on Thursday predicted that Spain will be one of the top job creators among advanced economies in 2015 and 2016.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of the world’s advanced economies, Spain is expected to see job growth of 2.9 percent this year and 2.8 in 2016.This put Spain second only to Iceland for job employment growth in 2015 at 4.1 percent, and at a tie for 2015 with New Zealand. For 2016, Spain and Greece topped all other countries for growth.
The report projected that Spain would still continue to have relatively high unemployment over the coming two years, second only to Greece. In comparison, the average OECD unemployment rate for this year is projected to be 6.8 percent, while in 2016 it is estimated to be 6.5 percent. Of European OECD countries, the average unemployment rate is expected to be 10.8 percent this year and 10.3 percent next year.
Still, by 2016 the Spanish unemployment rate is predicted to be 19.7 percent, dropping below the 20 percent mark where it has not been since 2009. The report seemed to signal some hope for Spain, which has been hit comparatively hard by the global financial crisis with unemployment at a high of nearly 26 percent in 2012 and 2013 and youth unemployment of those under 25 hovering above 50 percent.
