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

Companies are slow to cut jobs after the spurt in growth over the past two years.

The number of people out of work, adjusted for seasonal swings, dropped 26,000 to 3.15 million after falling 29,000 in September. The adjusted unemployment rate fell to 7.5%, a 16-year low.

Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on the basis of first calculations for September 2008, the number of persons in employment in Germany, amounted to 40.62 million. That was an increase by 568,000 persons (+1.4%) on September 2007. The employment increase thus continued in September 2008. According to all data available, the current development on the financial markets did not change that trend in the reference month.

Based on the labour force survey, Destatis determines unemployment figures according to the concept of the International Labour Organization (ILO). According to provisional estimates, the number of unemployed amounted to a seasonally adjusted 3.07 million in September 2008. Compared with September 2007, unemployment was down by a seasonally adjusted 450,000 persons or 12.5%. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate – which is harmonised across the EU and measured as the share of unemployed in the total labour force – amounted to 7.1% in Germany and was thus considerably below the level of the corresponding month of the previous year (8.2%).