The number of people out of work in Germany fell by 114,000 to just over 4.1 million in March, according to the country's Federal Labour Agency.
The German jobless rate slipped by 0.3 points to 9.8% this month, the office said. Unemployment usually declines in the spring as a result of mild weather.
That and the ongoing economic upturn meant that jobless queues shortened by more than expected this month, office chief Frank Weise said.
Adjusted for seasonal effects, the German jobless total fell by 65,000 to 3.83 million, with the adjusted jobless rate falling to 9.2% from 9.3%. The drop was bigger than analysts had expected.
And official figures showed today that the French unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage points to 8.4% of the working population last month, which is the lowest figure since June 1983.
A government source said the number of registered people looking for work had fallen by 1% to 2,066,100 people.
France has suffered from high unemployment for years, but in the last year or so the rate has shown a steady, although erratic, decline.
