The Spanish economy has recovered from a deep crisis and is growing at more than 3% for the third year running, but the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 17.2%, though well down on the peak of 27.1% in 2013.

Spain’s traditionally high jobless rate dropped to 8% in 2007 at the height of its boom, a level regarded as steep in other developed countries such as the US and UK. The recession that followed the bursting of a massive property bubble pushed the rate to 27% in 2013. Thanks to an economy growing at more than 3% for the third consecutive year (the pre-crisis GDP was not recovered in real terms until the second quarter of this year), the rate is down to 17%, analyst William Chislett commented for Eurasia review.

Some 1.5 million more jobs are needed to regain the pre-crisis employment level. The government’s 2012 labor market reforms have made the firing end more flexible and lowered the GDP growth threshold for job creation. But most new jobs are on temporary not permanent contracts, and there is still a gulf between outsiders and insiders.

Part of the problem of the high unemployment rate lies in the Spanish economic model, based on tourism (a seasonal industry) and construction, though the latter to a much lesser extent…