Madrid, Jul 3 (IANS/EFE): Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Tuesday that the June employment figures showed that the labour market was moving "in the right direction" and provided "hopeful signs" for people.

The number of workers registered as unemployed fell by 127,248 in June.

Rajoy noted the latest unemployment numbers during an appearance before parliament to discuss last week's European Council meeting in Brussels.

The June employment figures allowed Spain to finish the first half of this year with no rise in the number of registered jobless people, marking the first time this has happened since the January-June 2007 period, Rajoy said.

The fact that the number of registered jobless people dropped by more than 85,000 in the January-June period of this year should motivate people to keep working on building future gains, the prime minister said.

Spain's unemployment rate hit 27.16 percent in the first quarter of this year, with 6.2 million people registered as jobless in the Iberian nation.

Spain has been mired in a deep recession since 2008 due to the financial crisis caused by the bursting of the real estate bubble.