Spanish unemployment shrinks significantly in December

Spain may be experiencing further signs of economicrecovery, as unemployment fell by a significant amount in December,official data released on Friday showed according to dpa. The number of people registered as out of work shrank by 107,570 inDecember compared to the previous month, leaving the country's totalunemployment figure at around 4.7 million, the Employment Ministryreported. During 2013 as a whole, the number dropped by 147,385 - the firstannual decline since the onset of the recession in 2008, and thestrongest decline since 1999. Despite the fall, Spain still has one of the highest unemploymentrates in the European Union, with recent statistics putting it at 26per cent. Spain showed first signs of economic recovery in the third quarter of2013, when its economy grew by 0.1 per cent.