A quarter of Spain in the dole queue

The National Statistics Institute said that 85,000 more people had joined the ranks of the unemployed between July and September, raising the total to 5.78 million.

The figures brought the country's unemployment rate up by around 0.4 per cent in the third quarter to 25.02 per cent.

For those under 25 years of age, the unemployment rate edged down marginally to 52 per cent from 53 per cent in the previous quarter.

The institute said 800,000 people had lost their jobs over the past 12 months.

The country has already been granted a €100 billion (£80bn) bailout facility for its troubled banks.

Labour reforms introduced by conservative PM Mariano Rajoy making it easier to dismiss workers have led to many strikes and protests and have had no positive effect on the economy, rather the reverse.

The Spanish Red Cross and the Catholic Church charity organisation Caritas say unemployment and the austerity measures are leaving tens of thousands of people in need of food and financial help.

On Thursday, Caritas said a foundation will donate €20 million (£16m) to help buy food, medicines and school material.

The statistics institute said Spain now has 1.8 million households in which no-one has work.