Spanish unemployment rate reaches 26.6% in Nov

MADRID - Spain's unemployment rate reached 26.6 percent in November, up 0.4 percent from October and 3.6 percent year-on-year, the European Union's statistical office said Tuesday.

The increase of jobless Spaniards set a new record in the country, Eurostat said in a report, adding that Spain's unemployment rate was also the highest in the EU.

The data confirms the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)'s prediction in November, which said Spain's unemployment rate would reach 26.9 percent in 2013 and fall to 26.6 percent by the end of 2014 thanks to a slight improvement in the economic situation.

The EU's Employment Commissioner Laszlo Andor said the new data showed that Spain's unemployment growth could have reached a peak and would stop rising.

However, he highlighted the worrying situation of youth unemployment which sees around 50 percent of people aged 25 or under without a job, urging the Spanish government to design a political strategy to reduce unemployment.