According to the statement issued by the Labor Ministry of Spain, the number of people registering claims for the jobless benefits in the country increased during the last month by about 61,000 as temporary summer work contracts started to expire.

The ministry added that the rise terminated a 4-month flow of declinations and took the number of people seeking claims to 3.97 million.

Total number of jobless people in the country, including those whose jobless benefits have run out, was around 4.65 million in the second quarter of this year, taking the jobless rate to 20.09 percent, a 13 year high and the worst in the euro zone.

While talking to media, the Finance Minister of the country, Elena Salgado said, “Figure was not bad because claims traditionally rise in August as temporary workers in the tourism industry see their contracts run out.”

The minister also mentioned that in 2007, when the economy was blistering, jobless claims still grew by 58,000.

In the past one year, the number of people claimed for benefits increased by 9.3 percent.