FT Alphaville " Spain at the back of the grid One eurozone country is looking marginally less bad on a relative basis, according to May purchasing manager indices for the manufacturing sector released on Friday: That's Spain taking Greece's spot at the the back of the grid with a level of 42.0, versus 43.1 for the Hellenic Republic. To get a bit more perspective around Spain: A three-year low sounds awful, but it's still a way off of the worst of 2008. Rather than just look at the numbers, let's look at the press release from Markit to get a sense of what those on the ground are saying, i.e. the actual purchasing managers that are surveyed to construct the index. Output fell at a substantial pace that was the strongest in more than three years as the rate of decline quickened for the fourth successive month. Where production decreased, respondents attributed this to declining new business. Overall new business fell substantially in May, with the rate of contraction the fastest since April 2009. Panellists reported that domestic demand had decreased particularly sharply over the month. New export orders also declined, with respondents highlighting weakness in the eurozone. As for the work that was already secured: Output prices were broadly unchanged during the month amid pressure for discounts from clients and strong competition for new work. The last monthly rise in output prices was recorded in July 2011. Meanwhile in Greece: As a reading below 50 signals contraction, having a level of 43.1 for May compared to 40.7 for April signals that the manufacturing sector's decline is just less sharp than it was. There wasn't any let up for employment levels either. From the release: A lack of new orders, combined with evidence of excess capacity in the sector - backlogs of work were again down sharply in May - led to another round of job losses. Companies indicated that, despite reducing working hours, the sharp fall in production and a poor demand outlook left little choice but to release workers. Some panellists indicated intentions to cut employee numbers further in the coming months. Which led us to wonder how the unemployment rates of the two countries compare. Out with the handy Datastream terminal: Spain looks to be worse off than Greece by this metric too. Guess it's all the hard work the Greeks put in. For the datageeks: The figures in the above chart are seasonally adjusted and come from Eurostat. The latest observation is March 2012 for Spain and February for Greece. #chartenvy Not that the under 25s get the chance to demonstrate their work ethic though: Oh, to not be young again. Update 10:49am London time: Unemployment numbers out for April from Eurostat show Spain's total rate at 24.3 per cent in April and 51.5 per cent for youth unemployment. No new figures for Greece yet. Press release available here. Related links: The weight of the eurozone PMIs - FT Alphaville The Eurozone youth of today - FT Alphaville This entry was posted by Lisa Pollack on Friday, June 1st, 2012 at 10:18 and is filed under Capital markets. Tagged with Greece, PMI, PMIs, Spain.