MADRID, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - The number of jobless in Spain fell O.6 percent in March over the previous month, the government said on Wednesday, ending five months running of gains that stoked fears of an economic slowdown.

The total number of unemployed hit 2,300,975 last month, a drop of 14,356 people, with the largest falls in the agriculture and services sectors, the labour ministry said in a statement.

The declines in joblessness in those sectors helped make up for the continued rise in unemployment in the key construction sector which has been hurt by the global credit crunch and stagnating property prices in Spain.

The overall unemployment rate, published quarterly by the national statistics institute, hit 8.6 percent last year in the first rise since 2003.

The institute has not yet published the unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2008.

The rise in unemployment was a major issue in the run-up to a March 9 general election in which Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was re-elected to a second term.

Spain led job creation in the euro zone under most of Zapatero's first four years in office, with the unemployment rate hitting 7.95 percent in the second quarter of 2007, its lowest level since 1978.

But the number of jobless started to rise late last year as the key building sector was hurt by the international lending crunch, putting the brakes on a decade-long credit-fueled expansion.

On Tuesday, the Bank of Spain forecast Spain's gross domestic product would grow by 2.4 percent in 2008 and by 2.1 percent in 2009 after expanding 3.8 percent last year due mostly to slowing housing investment.

It sees the unemployment rate hitting 9.0 percent this year and 9.8 percent in 2009.