Spain has more than 6m people unemployed for the first time and the country’s jobless rate surged to a record 27.2% in the first quarter of this year, according to the National Statistics Institute.

The agency said the number of people unemployed rose 237,400 in the first three months of the year, a 1.1% increase from the previous quarter. The number of people out of work stood at 6.2m.

The number of people considered long-term unemployed - out of a job more than a year - increased to 3.5m while the unemployment rate for those under-25 years-old was a staggering 57%. The government also said its survey found the number of households without anyone working had increased by 72,400 to 1.91m.

In just over a year in office, the conservative government has launched a series of financial and labour reforms and pursued a raft of spending cuts and tax increases that have managed to reduce a swollen deficit. Even so, the country had the highest budget deficit last year, among the 17 countries in the Eurozone.

The International Monetary Fund indicated last week that Spain’s economy will contract by 1.6% this year.