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Empresas y finanzas

German jobless rate falls to new record low in March


    BERLIN (Reuters) - German unemployment dropped for a fifth consecutive month in March with the jobless rate sliding to 6.7 percent, marking a new record low since figures for unified Germany were first published, the Labor Office said on Thursday.

    The seasonally adjusted data showed a stronger-than-expected decrease of 18,000 from the previous month to a total of 2.841 million. The consensus forecast in a Reuters poll of 35 economists was for joblessness to drop by 10,000.

    "The current phase of economic weakness has hardly left a trace on the labor market," Labor Office head Frank-Juergen Weise said. "Unemployment fell in the wake of a spring revival."

    "The demand for workforce remains high," he added.

    (Reporting By Sarah Marsh and Madeline Chambers)