Spain’s unemployment figures are truly shocking. Almost one in every five workers is out of a job. Only Latvia faces a worse problem. The Spanish employment minister, struggling to put on a brave face, points out the rate of increase is slowing, but that is cold comfort to the millions on the dole. Spain faces a long, hard battle to get back the jobs it has lost.

At 19.3 percent in September, the jobless figure is more than double the EU average of 9.2 percent. While Spanish unemployment has always been stubbornly high, even during a decade-long construction boom, EU membership had promised relief from structurally high joblessness. No such relief is in sight today.

Everyone can see that the figure is high, but quite how high is debated. The government says 3.8 million, while the National Statistics Institute says 4.1 million people out of work. Unemployment among young people under the age of 25 is even worse. On the EU’s standardised measure, nearly 42 percent are out of work.

The Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has few levers left to pull to get people working again. Inside the eurozone, it cannot devalue to improve its competitive position, as many of the immigrants who had flocked to work in Spain recognise. They are voting with their feet and leaving.

Many came during the construction boom, which has now turned to bust. Tens of thousands of apartments and houses stand half-built or empty, and multi-lane highways are almost free of cars. The debt-fuelled building frenzy is over.

Spain has tried to plug the gap with an 8 billion euro public works programme which will stretch its budget deficit to close to 10 percent of GDP this year.

October’s government unemployment numbers show a month-on-month rise of 2.9 percent in services (almost two thirds of all job losses during the month as seasonal jobs in tourism come to an end), 1.2 percent in construction, 1.1 percent in the industrial sector and 12.4 percent in agriculture.

The European Commission sees no improvement in employment for the next two years, while some economists forecast further deterioration. The government is preparing another stimulus package, this disease will be around for years to come.