Spain's unemployment rate fell to 21.18 percent in the third quarter of this year, data from the National Statistics Institute showed on Thursday, its lowest in just over four years and down from 22.37 percent in the previous quarter.

Economists' polled by Reuters had forecast the rate - still the second highest in Europe after Greece even though Spain's economy again is growing - would drop to 22.15 percent.

Fewer jobs were created in the third quarter compared to the second, which tends to be a bumper period for hiring ahead of a busy tourism season.

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