HARRIS: You know, one of the troubled spots in the U.S. economy is the unemployment rate, and that is also the case in Spain. The jobless rate there has reached 20 percent. We're at 9.7. Twenty percent in Spain, 4.6 million people out of work. The story now from CNN's Al Goodman.</s>AL GOODMAN, CNN MADRID BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): The weather is warm after a long winter, but waiting at the unemployment office in this working class Madrid neighborhood is not getting easier.</s>ANA MARIA PADILLA, UNEMPLOYED RESTAURANT COOK (through translator): I've been out of work since last May. You go to look for a job, but since you're older than 45, they won't take you.</s>GOODMAN: She's got two kids and a mortgage. She's here to ask for additional aid. (on camera): You see long lines outside unemployment offices across Spain. A growing group of Spaniards waiting patiently, trying anything that might lead to a job. (voice-over): The door opens at 9:00 a.m. local time, just as the government releases the latest jobless figures. Unemployment is up a point, to 20 percent in Spain, second highest in the European Union after Latvia. But Spain is a major EU economy, and 4.6 million people are out of work here. This Romanian immigrant lost his construction job two years ago and hasn't found anything since.</s>DANIEL MINTEUAN, UNEMPLOYED CONSTRUCTION WORKER (through translator): The situation in Spain right now is difficult. It seems to be stuck. Like, every avenue is blocked.</s>GOODMAN: Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero presides over Spain's deepening recession, but in parliament he insists that unemployment is at its peak and will soon decline. At this office and many others, they sure hope so.</s>HARRIS: Watch agency waiting. That's all people along the Gulf Coast can do right now as the oil slick oozes ever closer.
Spain's Unemployment Rate Hits 20 Percent