VAT to go up next year, and alcohol and tobacco and fuel and ... you name it

De Guindos, de Santamaría and
Báñez, ministers various

SPAIN Friday used to be a good day. Not any more. It is the day of the Cabinet's weekly meeting, which now seems to bring nothing but bad news. Just some of it from today: unemployment is now up to 5.6 million, 24.55% of the working population; inflation has reached an official 2%, though anyone in the street will tell you it's more than that; VAT to go up next year, probably to 20% or more; all that, plus all kinds of other measures announced a week ago and about which we are trying to get a grip so we can tell you about them (Watch out for Adiós black money and No more cash under the counter coming soon to your favourite website - THIS ONE, DAMMIT!) 

Unemployment record in the Campo de Gibraltar

(Agencies) Unemployment in the Campo de Gibraltar registered record numbers in October. The total for the Campo area is 35,266 registered at the SAE (Servicio Andaluz de Empleo), an average of 2.82% since September, according to statistics announced yesterday. This is an average of 31 people per day. Not a single municipality escaped the rise in unemployment, with Algeciras and Tarifa registering the worst figures in absolute terms. The latter showed a 9.16% rise, just under Castellar, which registered 9.67%. The figures by municipality are shown below.>

Jimena unemployment doubles in two years; 3.709.447 in Spain

(Agencies) According to the latest reports on unemployment, Jimena figures show 1220 people unemployed, against 605 in October, 2007. The Campo de Gibraltar has 33.272 unemployed, while Spain as a whole has 3.709.447. Percentages by towns and villages are difficult to find (we will keep trying), but Andalucía showed a 25.41% unemployment rate in September, while the province of Cádiz showed 26,05% last April, so it is safe to assume that the province will have increased to a similar number.