Spanish Unemployment Falls to Lowest Since Start of 2009: Chart

Spanish unemployment declined to the lowest level in eight years, falling to 17.2 percent in the second quarter, the National Statistics Office said Thursday. That beats a median forecast of 17.8 percent in a Bloomberg survey and compares with 18.8 percent in the previous quarter. The number of people without a job was reduced by almost 350,000 -- the biggest quarterly decline since 2001 -- and fell below 4 million for the first time since 2008.