How's that "green economy" workin' out for you...?

Spain's jobless rate surges to 20.33%
by Katell Abiven – Fri Jan 28, 7:06 am ET

MADRID (AFP) – Spain announced Friday its jobless rate surged to a 13-year record above 20 percent at the end of 2010, the highest level in the industrialized world, as the economy struggled for air.

Madrid estimates 70 percent of the two million jobs which were lost in Spain since the start of the economic downturn were directly or indirectly related to the construction sector.

Last year the government introduced a hotly contested labour market reform that cut the country's high cost of firing workers and gave companies more flexibility to reduce working hours and staff levels in economic downturns -- changes that he argued would boost job creation.

For a more detailed analysis see this study.