Official figures show that the number of people out of work in Germany fell unexpectedly by 24,000 to 4.222 million in February.
The Federal Labour Agency said the German jobless rate slipped by 0.1 percentage points to 10.1% this month.
Unemployment usually rises in the winter as a result of the bad weather and analysts had been expecting a rise in the jobless numbers. But this time, the mild weather and the ongoing economic upturn meant that the jobless queues shortened this month, office chief Frank Weise said.
'The favourable developments of the past few months are continuing. The employment trend is gaining momentum,' Weise said.
Adjusted for seasonal effects, the German jobless total was down even more sharply, falling by 79,000 to just under 3.9 million, with the adjusted jobless rate falling to 9.3% from 9.5%.
