Unemployment rate, according to the International Labour Office was 7.6% in the first quarter of the year compared to the 7.3% registered in the previous quarter but it registered a decrease compared to the 2010 first quarter when unemployment was 8.1%, the National Statistics Institute reads. The highest unemployment rate, of 23.6% was registered among young people ages 15 to 24.

In the first quarter of 2011, the active population of the country was 9.81 million people of which 741,000 were jobless.