Spanish unemployment will continue rising in 2010, Spain's minister of labor and immigration has forecast.

Celestino Corbacho disclosed that projections made by the government's ministry of labor suggest that joblessness will increase this year - although in a more subdued manner than 2009.

Speaking at a press conference in the halls of Congress, Mr Corbacho claimed that rises in unemployment will behave inline with the pre-crisis years 2007 and 2008 thanks to government intervention.

"We are in the final stages of the destruction of jobs," he said.

Mr Corbacho also explained that job losses in Spain are traditionally high in January and "it seems reasonable that 2010 will not behave differently".

Earlier this month, the labor ministry revealed that the number of unemployed workers in Spain's economy increased to its highest level in more than a decade in December.