WAY TOO EARLY to say the worst is over, but still it's good news on the labor front in Spain:

Spain's unemployment queues shrank by almost 100,000 in May in line with the positive predictions offered by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday.

There were 98.265 fewer people out of work in May than a month earlier, new figures from Spain's employment ministry show.

This comprised a drop in total unemployment of 1.97 percent on April's jobless figures.

At the same time, 134.660 more people started paying more into Spain's social security system.

The numbers show that there was "a continued trend towards slowing unemployment," said the Secretary of State for Employment Engracia Hidalgo in a statement.

May was the third month in a row that Spain's unemployment figures have fallen.

May and June are traditionally the best months for new employment in Spain but the month just gone saw the highest fall in unemployment since 1997.

The average drop in unemployment in May has been around 54,000 in the last 15 years, El País reported on Tuesday.

Plus this from Bloomberg: Spain’s Crisis Fades as Exports Transform Country