German unemployment falls in December

Unemployment in Germany fell in December as the labour market continues to shrug off weak growth, official data showed on Wednesday.
The number of people registered as unemployed in Europe's biggest economy fell by a seasonally-adjusted 27,000 in December, the Federal Labour Office said, beating analysts' expectations for a much shallower decline of 5,000 last month.
The unemployment rate -- which measures the jobless total against the working population as a whole -- slipped to 6.5 percent in December from 6.6 percent in November, the office calculated.
In raw or unadjusted terms, however, the jobless total increased by 46,700 to 2.764 million and the jobless rate edged up to 6.4 percent from 6.3 percent.
"The labour market continued to develop favourably, independent of the weak economy," the labour office said.