Balearics has one of the highest rates of male unemployment in the EU

The EU average was 9.5 percent, but in Spain, it hit 21.2 percent at the end of 2011. Meanwhile, here in the Balearics, the rate of male unemployment was as high as 22.3, well above the Spanish national average. Nevertheless, the situation was worse in the Canaries, Andalusia, Murcia and Valencia.

But, compared to other EU countries the difference will come as embarrassment to the regional and central governments.
For example, over the same period, the level of male unemployment in Lithuania was 17.6 percent, Ireland 17.4 percent, and Estonia 13 percent. In Bulgaria, the unemployment rate stood at 12 percent and 11 percent in Hungary.

In France and Poland, the level of male unemployment just broke the nine per percent mark while in Germany it remained at six percent.
The lowest rates of unemployment were registered in Holland, 4.5 percent, Austria, 4 percent and Luxembourg 3.8 percent - these were the three countries with the lowest rates of male unemployment in the EU. The report will make grim reading for the Spanish authorities with record unemployment set to start rising again as the summer tourist season, which failed to create as many jobs as expected, comes to a gradual end.