As labor groups take to the streets around the world to protest high unemployment and harsh austerity measures, who has the most to complain about?
Recognized as a national holiday by more than 80 countries, May 1, or May Day, has become firmly identified with International Workers' Day. The event originally commemorated the bloody 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago, when police opened fire on demonstrating workers, killing dozens. Over the years it has become a day for labor unions to rally around the globe. This year, with unemployment soaring and governments cutting back to reign in budgets, we take a tour of the protests.
SPAIN
Unemployment rates have skyrocketed in Spain, with youth unemployment -- joblessness among people 16 to 24 -- passing 50 percent this year. Austerity measures by the right-leaning government have increasingly come under fire from labor unions, and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy faces a difficult defense of his harsh austerity measures after the announcement that Spain's economy actually shrank 0.4 percent during the first quarter of 2012, officially putting the country back in a recession.
Here, demonstrators join a protest against the economic policies of the Spanish government during May Day festivities in Madrid.
DANI POZO/AFP/GettyImages
