German unemployment has fallen more than expected in November

German unemployment has fallen more than expected in November, with the labor market of the largest economy in Europe remaining solid.

The Federal Labor Agency said today that taking seasonal factors into account, unemployment fell by 0.1 percentage points on a month-on-month basis to 5% in November. The unemployed fell by 16,000, while economists expected the number of unemployed to drop by 10,000.

Without taking into account seasonal factors, the unemployment rate fell to 4.8% in November from 4.9% in the previous month.

A total of 2.186 million people are registered as unemployed in Germany, which is about 18,000 less than in October and 182,000 less than in the same period last year.

Despite the positive development, Germany’s economy has recently been showing cracks with official data this month showing gross domestic product declined 0.2% in the third quarter.

German inflation data are due later on Thursday. The rate of consumer-price growth is forecast to fall to 2.3% from 2.4%. The euro area reports inflation on Friday.