The Spanish job market is likely to start growing again towards the end of 2010, the country's finance minister Elena Salgado has stated.

With the rate of unemployment in Spain having recently peaked at 19.3 per cent, due largely to the collapse of the construction industry boom of the past ten years, the minister has expressed her confidence that the economy is due to start growing again at the start of the new year.

She added, speaking to Cadena Ser: "We think we will start to see net job creation in some sectors at the end of 2010, and more clearly in 2011."

Spain is currently second only to Latvia in terms of unemployment in Europe, Dow Jones has reported.

At the same time, France's economic minister Christine Lagarde has confirmed that the country's headline rate of unemployment increased by more than 52,000 in October, though she noted the domestic economy has "exited the recession".