- Raj Badiani, an economist at IHS Global Insight Inc.
Spanish unemployment claims rose by the most since 2009 in January as the country entered its second recession in three years. The number of people claiming unemployment benefits jumped by 177,470 to 4.6 million, the Labor Ministry said on Thursday.
"For countries like Spain and Italy, where the fiscal tightening in the pipeline this year is immense already and there will be more to come, we do have concerns about significant contraction in output," said Chris Scicluna, head of economic research at Daiwa Capital Markets Europe in London. "At the same time the core countries seem to be stabilizing, so the euro area is moving in two different directions."
"With the economy now expected to be in recession over the next few quarters, employment is set to shrink for a fifth straight year," said Raj Badiani, an economist at IHS Global Insight Inc. "Austerity measures will further reduce the number of public-sector jobs in 2012, while private- sector employment intentions continue to retreat alarmingly."
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