Spain's unemployment nears 25% in second quarter

Spain's unemployment rate rose in the second quarter to 24.63 percent without benefitting from the usual spike from tourism, the government said Friday. The increase was smaller than in the first quarter, to nearly 5.7 million people out of work. Between April and June, 53,500 people lost their jobs, compared with 365,900 in the first quarter, the national statistics office said. On Monday the Bank of Spain will publish its provisional estimate of economic output in the second quarter, expected to show a contraction of 0.4 percent, compared with a 0.3 percent decrease in the first three months.