German unemployment shows surprise fall in June

With the traditional spring pick-up still impacting the domestic labor market, unemployment in Europe’s biggest economy has dropped in the past four weeks. Analysts said the situation was gratifyingly robust.

The number of unemployed people in Germany dropped by 72,000 in June to a total of 2.865 million, the Nuremberg-based Federal Employment Agency (BA) reported Thursday.

It said the jobless rate fell by 0.2 percent month-on-month, while there was no change in a year-on-year comparison.

Overall, the German labor market remains in a good condition,” BA chief Frank-Jürgen Weise said in a statement. “It continues to develop despite a difficult economic environment," he said while conceding that recruitment levels were stronger a year ago with some 55,000 people more in employment across the nation.