German jobless rate drops to lowest since fall of Berlin Wall

[BERLIN] German unemployment fell in January to the lowest level since the country was reunited in 1990, official data showed on Thursday.

The number of people registered as unemployed in Germany fell by a seasonally-adjusted 9,000 to 2.8 million in January, the Federal Labour Office said, the fewest since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Analysts polled by Bloomberg News had forecast a still bigger monthly drop of around 12,000.

The unemployment rate - which measures the jobless total against the working population as a whole - slipped to 6.5 per cent from 6.6 per cent for December, the office said.

Christian Schulz, of Berenberg Bank, said the fourth consecutive monthly drop demonstrated the resilience of Germany's jobs market.

"The economic slowdown last summer, which Russia had triggered with its aggression against Ukraine in the spring, has not had any significant impact on German jobs growth.

"Nor has the introduction of the new national minimum wage on January 1, 2015," he added.

AFP