Despite Spain's dire unemployment data, some economists have warned that the figures overstate the problem in a country where the underground economy probably accounts for 20 percent of G.D.P., according to an estimate made last year by Valeriano Gómez, then Spain's labor minister.
Some commentators say the figures overstate the problem: young people in full-time education or training (a large proportion, obviously) are not considered "economically active" and so in some countries are counted as unemployed.
In annual terms, this equates to a shortfall of 19% of GDP.Even if this figure substantially overstates the problem, a decision by workers to narrow the gap by increasing their savings rate by, say, ten percentage points would have a huge impact on corporate profits, government tax revenues and GDP growth.So beating up savers can be represented as a kind of Keynesian demand management.
True, the official Eurostat figures overstate the problem by excluding students from the work force.
"It's hard to overstate the problem," said Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington.
After immigration, Latino voters prioritise education and health care, issues that tend to favour a Democratic Party more inclined to spend on such things.But let's not overstate the problem for Republicans either.
Three others (Goa, Gujarat and Pondicherry, with 53m people all told) have "concentrated" epidemics, with prevalence rates of 5% or more among the high-risk groups.Admittedly, some of the statistics may overstate the problem.
Reports that mentally ill youths were stripped to their underwear and isolated in cages 23 hours a day, that prisoners were subjected to biomedical experiments and sexually and physically abused by guards, and other problems led the state inspector general, Steven White, to conclude that "it would be impossible to overstate the problem".
It's hard to overstate the problem.
