German unemployment steady at historic low in October

German unemployment remained at historically low levels in October as the recovery in Europe's biggest economy remained on track, data showed on Thursday.

The German unemployment rate -- which measures the jobless total against the working population as a whole -- stood at 6.4 percent in September, unchanged from August and the lowest level since west and east Germany reunited in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall the previous year, the Federal Labour Office said in a statement.

In concrete terms, the number of people registered as unemployed in Germany declined by a seasonally-adjusted 5,000 to 2.788 million, the Federal Labour Office said.  

That was slightly more than expected, as analysts had been pencilling in a decline of around 4,000.

In raw or unadjusted terms, the jobless total decreased by 58,800 to 2.649 million and the unemployment rate fell to 6.0 percent in October from 6.2 percent in September, the office noted.

But unemployment tends to fall in the autumn as students who have signed on for employment over the summer holidays return to school or college or find training places.

Growth of German gross domestic product (GDP) picked up in the second quarter, the labour office said.

"The latest indicators point to similar momentum in the third quarter as well .. (and) the labour market continues to develop favourably," it said.