Gloom in Spain: Unemployment Hits Record 27%

Spain's unemployment rate has soared to 27.2%, the highest it's been since record-keeping started in the 1970s. Some 6.2 million people were jobless in the first quarter, a figure that has continued to climb for seven quarters. Madrid has sharply curtailed its spending, and these latest numbers are likely to increase concerns over budget austerity amid Europe's financial crisis, Reuters notes. "These figures are worse than expected and highlight the serious situation of the Spanish economy as well as the shocking decoupling between the real and the financial economy," a Madrid strategist says. And things may not improve any time soon: The IMF projects a 26.5% jobless rate in Spain for 2014. (More Spain stories.)