Spanish unemployment hits record high 24.6 percent

Taxis block a main street during a demonstration by taxi drivers in Madrid, Friday, July 27, 2012. The taxi drivers are protesting the planned deregulation of the taxi sector. Photo: Paul White / AP
 

MADRID (AP) — The number of people unemployed in Spain hit a record high, official figures showed Friday, as the International Monetary Fund urged European leaders to quickly fulfill their promises to help the country and the 17-country eurozone.

The recession-hit country's unemployment rate rose to 24.63 percent in the second quarter, up 0.19 percentage points from the previous three months, the National Statistics Institute said. The rate is the highest in the eurozone and is worse than Spain's previous record of 24.55 percent hit in 1994, according to the country's Labor Force Survey.

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