Spain's unemployment rate hit 17.4% at the end of March, figures have shown, with the jobless total now having doubled over the past 12 months.
In the past year, two million people have lost their jobs taking the total out of work to just over four million.
The Bank of Spain recently predicted the jobless rate would reach 19.4% in 2010, as the recession took hold.
"It is a terrible figure," Octavio Granado, secretary of state for social security told state television.
He said the first quarter of any year was traditionally bad for employment in Spain.
Mr Granado also said that 2009 was expected to be the worst part of the economic downturn.
"So we are in the epicenter of the crisis. We are in the eye of the perfect storm," he said.
The National Statistics Institute said Spain's jobless rate at the end of the first quarter was up 3.45 percentage points from the end of 2008.
In the past year, two million people have lost their jobs taking the total out of work to just over four million.
The Bank of Spain recently predicted the jobless rate would reach 19.4% in 2010, as the recession took hold.
"It is a terrible figure," Octavio Granado, secretary of state for social security told state television.
He said the first quarter of any year was traditionally bad for employment in Spain.
Mr Granado also said that 2009 was expected to be the worst part of the economic downturn.
"So we are in the epicenter of the crisis. We are in the eye of the perfect storm," he said.
The National Statistics Institute said Spain's jobless rate at the end of the first quarter was up 3.45 percentage points from the end of 2008.
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