German jobless below 3 million

German unemployment defied the global financial crisis in October and fell below 3 million for the first time in 16 years, extending its longest drop since reunification.

The unadjusted number of people out of work fell to 2.99 million, the Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg said yesterday. That's the first time since November 1992 it breached 3 million, down from a post-World War II peak of 5.3 million in February 2005.

"Three million is a magic number," said Holger Schaefer, Berlin-based labor market economist with the IW institute. "You have to look at where we've come from - from over 5 million. Policy-makers and companies can pat themselves on the back for a job well done, even though there's no room for complacency."