German unemployment sinks

The number of people registered as unemployed in Germany dropped by 14,600 to 3.017 million in February, the lowest figure for that month since 1991, official data showed Thursday.

The unemployment rate, which measures the jobless total against the working population as a whole, fell to 6.9 percent from 7.0 percent in January in unadjusted terms, the German Labor Agency (BA) said.

Compared with the same month last year, the number of jobless Germans was down by 121,000. The seasonally adjusted rate stood at 6.5 percent, its lowest level in more than two decades.

Yesterday, the employment office said the number of job openings had hit a level not seen in more than a decade.

In a statement, BA noted that the fifth monthly decline in a row was "thanks to robust growth at the end of last year and the start of this year."

In 2014, Europe's biggest economy expanded by 1.6 percent, with the last quarter of the year alone contributing a sizable 0.7 percent to the German gross domestic product (GDP).

In seasonally-adjusted terms, unemployment was even lower, according to the Labor Agency, dropping by about 20,000 to 2.8 million.

Looking ahead, the agency expects the German economy to continue to improve and the country's labor market to develop "positively" and "relatively unaffected" by any global economic volatility.

uhe/cjc (Reuters, AFP, dpa)