Spanish unemployment reaches 25%

Unemployment in Spain continued its steady march higher in the third quarter, as the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy remained in recession, to hit a fresh high at just over 25%.

The jobless rate in the quarter rose to 25.02% from 24.63% in the second quarter, the national statistics bureau said Friday.

Spain is suffering from the collapse of a decade-long housing bubble and from deep spending cuts as the government tries to narrow its budget deficit to 6.3% of gross domestic product from well above 9% of GDP last year. Its unemployment rate is the highest in the euro zone.