Number of people registered as unemployed borders on 5 million

The number of people out of work in Spain rose by 2.7 percent in January, meaning 4.98 million people are unemployed in the euro zone's fourth-biggest economy, data from the Labour Ministry showed on Monday (February 4).

The Labour Ministry data is considered less reliable than employment figures from the National Statistics Institute, which last month showed an unemployment rate of 26 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 with 5.97 million jobless.

But the situation for young people is even worse as the number of 16-24 year old Spaniards out of work rose to 51.4 per cent in December, more than double the European Union average, according to a report by Spain's National Statistics Institute.

Last month official figures put the rate of unemployment among the under-25s at 60 percent for the final quarter of 2012.

Now young Spaniards have few hopes for the future. "This is bad, because in other countries youth unemployment is really low and unemployment amongst people over 30 years old is higher, not youth unemployment because young people have to bring the country up," explained Noemi Sanz, a 23-year-old unemployed woman who had been working for the five years but since the crisis started has not been able to get another job.

With Spain's unemployment rate soaring to its highest level since records began in the 1970s as a prolonged recession and deep spending cuts left almost six million people out of work at the end of last year, many Spaniards try to get out of this situation studying to prepare themselves better for the future.

One of the biggest concerns for Spaniards is the lack of opportunities for young people. "Older people also have the right to work but what happens is that who is going get us out of this situation in the end are going to be young people. And nowadays there are no opportunities anywhere, so this is going to end in blood," said 26-year-old Javier.

Spain's unemployment rate rose to 26 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, or 5.97 million people up from 25 percent in the previous quarter and more than double the European Union average.