German unemployment falls again in February

Unemployment in Germany, Europe's largest economy, continued to ease in February, as the labour market benefits from the improving economic outlook, official data showed on Thursday. The number of people registered as unemployed in Europe's top economy fell by 14,000 to 2.914 million in seasonally adjusted terms this month, the Federal Labour Office said in a statement. Analysts had been projecting a decline of around 15,000. The unemployment rate, which measures the number of people looking for work relative to the total of people in jobs or unemployed, was unchanged at 6.8 percent in seasonally-adjusted terms in February, the Federal Labour Office said. In raw or unadjusted terms, the German jobless total edged up only slightly 2,065 to 3.138 million while the unadjusted jobless rate was also unchanged at 7.3 percent, the office calculated. "The development on the labour market in February was favourable. In seasonally adjusted terms, unemployment declined once again,"said labour office chief Frank-Juergen Weise. "Prospects for the unemployed are gradually improving," Weise said.