German unemployment falls sharply

Berlin - The number of unemployed people in Germany fell more than forecast in December with seasonally adjusted unemployment dropping by 27 000 from November, the labour office said on Wednesday.

The third monthly decline pushed the total number of unemployed people in Europe's biggest economy down to 2.84 million.

Analysts surveyed by dpa-AFX had expected unemployment to drop by 5 000 last month. The unemployment rate slipped to a more than two-decade low of 6.5%.

In seasonally unadjusted terms, unemployment rose by 47 000 to 2.76 million, the labour office said. This drove the unadjusted rate up to 6.4% last month from 6.3% in November.