At the end of August there were some 3.97 million registered unemployed, 61,083 more than in July, the labour ministry said in a statement.

The rise follows four months of falling unemployment. A drop in April had reversed an eight-month upwards spiral.

The ministry does not provide a jobless rate, but the National Statistics Institute, which uses a different calculation method from the labour ministry, said in July month that the rate in the second quarter had risen to 20.09 percent in the second quarter from 20.05 percent in the first.

It is the highest rate in the 16-member eurozone and more than double the 9.6 percent average of the whole European Union.

The Spanish economy, Europe’s fifth-biggest, slumped into recession in 2008 owing to the collapse of a property boom which had long fuelled growth.