(Bloomberg) -- German unemployment extended its four-year decline last month, suggesting companies are confident that momentum in Europe's largest economy remains strong.
The number of people out of work slid by a seasonally adjusted 15,000 to 2.543 million in April, data from the Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg showed on Wednesday. Economists in a Bloomberg survey forecast an 11,000 decline. The jobless rate was unchanged at 5.8 percent.
Demand is being supported by both domestic spending and gradually strengthening global trade, brightening the outlook for companies. Business confidence rose to the strongest level in almost six years in April, and a report due next week is set to show that economic growth accelerated in the first quarter.
“With the continued spring revival, the number of unemployed people declined significantly again in April,” labor agency head Detlef Scheele said in a statement. “The good development on the labor market thus continues.”
The number of employed people in Germany, which is reported with a one-month lag, rose in March and was about 1.5 percent higher than a year ago, the labor agency said. Joblessness fell by about 8,000 each in the western and eastern part of the country.
The Federal Statistics Office will publish gross-domestic-product data for the January-March period on May 12.
--With assistance from Andre Tartar and Kristian Siedenburg
To contact the reporters on this story: Jana Randow in Frankfurt at jrandow@bloomberg.net, Alessandro Speciale in Frankfurt at aspeciale@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Jeff Black
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