Spanish jobless queue grows in Jan

MADRID, Feb 4 (AFP): Spain's unemployment queue grew in January but by the smallest margin since 2007, before the economy entered five years of stop-start recession that destroyed millions of jobs, government figures showed Tuesday.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government hailed the result as a sign that the labour market is steadying as the economy emerges from a double-dip recession sparked by a 2008 property crash.

The number of people registered as unemployed rose month-on-month by 113,097, or 2.41 per cent, to 4.81 million in January, according to raw figures from the Labour Ministry.

It was the smallest increase for January since 2007, the report said.

The January figures were "significantly better" than the average of previous years, said Engracia Hidalgo, the state secretary for employment.

"They confirm the trend of stabilisation of the labour market that began in May 2012," she said in a statement.