The number of German unemployed fell in November to its lowest level since 1992, but a 3-1/2 year labour market boom is fading as recession bites in Europe's biggest economy.
Adjusted for seasonal variations, the jobless total in Europe's largest economy fell by 10,000 month-on-month to 3.150 million, Federal Labour Office figures showed on Thursday.
According to Bundesbank figures, this took the adjusted jobless total, which has fallen by over a third since early 2005, to its lowest level since December 1992.
Though the drop exceeded a forecast for a 4,000 decline, Office chief Frank-Juergen Weise said the outlook was worsening amid a recession in Germany and global economic turmoil.
"The signs are increasing that the economic downturn will soon reach the labour market," Weise said in a statement.
Bad news about the German economy has peppered the headlines in recent weeks, with a closely-watched gauge of business sentiment falling to a near 16-year low in November.
On Tuesday, the head of Deutsche Bahn, Europe's biggest rail firm, said the financial crisis and accompanying economic downturn had hit its freight business hard.
"We're getting close to an abyss and we don't know how deep it's going to be," Chief Executive Hartmut Mehdorn said.
Fabienne Riefer, an economist at Postbank, said that with the number of jobs on offer falling, the market was turning.
"We reckon that by the start of 2009 at the latest, the jobless total will start to increase again," she said.
That means Chancellor Angela Merkel — who has already been under pressure from some of her own conservatives to do more to tackle the economic crisis — is likely to seek re-election in September with unemployment on the rise.
Nevertheless, Weise said Germany's labour market was in better shape to cope with a downturn than before.
"Unemployment won't rise at the same rate as the economy deteriorates," he said, noting due to demographic reasons — an ageing population and a low birth rate — there would be 130,000 fewer people looking for jobs in Germany next year.
The headline unadjusted jobless figure, which receives more prominence in German media, fell some 8,000 to 2.988 million.
