German jobless total falls in April

Unemployment in Germany declined again in April as Europe's biggest economy benefits from a favourable outlook and unseasonably warm weather, official data showed on Wednesday. The number of people registered as unemployed in fell by 25,000 in seasonally adjusted terms this month, the Federal Labour Office said in a statement. Analysts had been projecting a smaller decline of around 10,000. Sectors such as construction and agriculture typically have greater demand for workers during warmer weather than the winter months. The unemployment rate, which measures the number of people looking for work as a proportion of the working population, was unchanged at 6.7 percent in April after adjustment for seasonal factors, the Federal Labour Office said. In raw or unadjusted terms, the German jobless total fell by 111,400 to 2.943 million and the unadjusted jobless rate slipped to 6.8 percent from 7.1 percent, the office calculated.