The number of unemployed in Germany fell for the ninth-consecutive month in June as hiring continued to pick up, data released Tuesday showed. Seasonally adjusted unemployment in Europe's biggest economy dropped by 1,000 from May to 2.79 million this month, led by a decline in the numbers of people looking for jobs in the eastern part of the nation, dpa quoted the Federal Employment Agency as saying. The jobless rate held for the fourth straight month at 6.4 percent, its lowest level since German unification in 1990. The fall in national unemployment was less than the 5,000 forecast by economists. An increase of 2,000 unemployed persons in the western part of the nation was offset by a fall of 3,000 in the country's former communist east. Economists said there were no sign that the Greek crisis was impacting on the German labor market.
