As Spain\u2019s recession deepens, more workers like Juan are being shunted into an underground economy that amounts to as much as a fifth of Spain\u2019s gross domestic product, according to some estimates, with broad implications as the country tries to revive itself, reform its labor market and keep at bay the kind of wrenching crisis that now threatens to push Greece out of the euro zone.<\/p>\n
The happy news is that the size of the underground economy means that more Spaniards are working than it might seem, and that the official unemployment figure of 24.4 percent \u201d\u201d the highest in Europe \u201d\u201d may be overstated by as much as five to nine percentage points, economists say. That has given the Spanish government an important safety valve.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout the underground economy, we would be in a situation of probably violent social unrest,\u201d\u009d said Robert Tornabell, a professor and former dean of the Esade business school in Barcelona.<\/p>\n