Spanish unemployment rose to 11.3 per cent of the workforce in the third quarter from 10.4 per cent in the second, reaching its highest level in more than four years and remaining the highest in the European Union, according to official statistics released on Friday.

Although the number of those without jobs – 2.6m – was slightly less than the consensus predictions of economists, fast-rising unemployment is an embarrassment for the Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the prime minister. He has made job creation his primary goal.