Unemployment in Spain had increased by 1.836 million people in a year, a jump of 3.45% in the first quarter. Earlier, this year, the government predicted that unemployment would peak at a rate of 15.9% in 2009.

The number of unemployed in Spain has reached four million in the first quarter of 2009 meaning the unemployment rate now stands at 17.36% against 13.91% three months ago, the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE) has announced.  In February, the unemployment rate was 15.4%.

"The increase was 1.836 million during the last 12 months, said the release of the INE. This represents an unemployment rate increased by 3.45% in the first quarter”.  

Shaken by the implosion of the housing market, the collapse of the building industry and the international financial crisis, the country is in crisis, officially in recession since the second half of 2008, the recovery for Spain seems a long way off.

Figures released this Friday, are worse than the projections made earlier this year by the Spanish socialist government. This included an unemployment rate of 15.9% for 2009. It has already passed this.

Some economic observers had earlier stated that the economic projections from Madrid were far too optimistic for this year and that unemployment could soon reach 20% of the population.

The IMF, which lowered its forecast Wednesday for the world economy, said that Spain will undergo two more years of recession (GDP fell 3% in 2009, -0.6% in 2010), with an unemployment rate will reach 19.3% in 2010. This would be a record for the developed countries, where the average is 9.2%.

This situation has lead to some Spaniards at the extremities to take drasticaction, like selling their organs, according to some media reports.

Spain has the highest unemployment rate in the EU.