Madrid, Aug 28 (EFE) Spain's gross domestic product fell 4.2 percent in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008, the largest such decline since 1970, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said Thursday.

The drop in GDP between the first and second quarters of 2009 was smaller, 1.1 percent.

Employment shrank 7.1 percent in the April-June period, representing the loss of nearly 1.37 million full-time jobs since June 2008, according to the INE.

All of the principal economic indicators experienced their biggest 12-month declines since the government began keeping statistics in 1970, the INE said.

The institute largely attributed the plunge in GDP to a 7.3 percent slide in domestic demand and investment.

Purchases by households fell for the fourth consecutive quarter, sliding 5.9 percent compared with the same period last year, while business investment was down a whopping 17 percent from the second quarter of 2008.

INE figures show that employment continued to fall in all sectors except non-tradable services, with jobs in the devastated construction industry off by more than 25 percent from year-ago levels.