MADRID, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - The number of unemployed in Spain rose by 1.5 percent in July from the June figure, the labour ministry said on Monday, in yet another sign of the slump in the country's once-buoyant economy.

The construction sector, which had been the driving force behind the economic boom, was the hardest hit, with a 5.49 percent increase.

'These are worrying figures,' said Maravillas Rojo, who is in charge of employment at the labour minstry.

Spain led job creation in the eurozone in the past few years, with an unemployment rate of 7.95 percent in the second quarter of 2007, its lowest level since the fourth quarter of 1978.

But the downturn in the building sector caused by stagnating property prices, rising interest rates and the international credit crunch has battered its credit-fuelled expansion.

The National Statistics Institute announced last month that the unemployment rate leapt to 10.44 percent in the second quarter, its highest level in more than three years and up from 9.63 percent in the first.

The government last month also hiked its prediction for unemployment in 2009 to 12.5 percent from 11 percent.

July's figures follow a 1.5 percent rise in June. Over a year, the numbers of jobless have grown by 23.1 percent, the ministry said.

The construction sector also saw a spike in the number of jobless foreigners, which was up 8.52 percent from the previous month, and 112 percent over the past year.