Germany’s jobless rate remained at a record low of 6.5 per cent for a third straight month in February, data showed on Thursday, boosting expectations that private consumption will help drive growth in Europe’s largest economy this year.

That was in line with the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll and remains the lowest since German reunification in 1990. The reading for December was revised down to 6.5 per cent from 6.6 per cent.

Data from the Labour Office showed the number of people out of work decreased by 20,000 on a seasonally-adjusted basis to 2.812 million. That was bigger than the drop of 10,000 forecast in a Reuters poll.

Separately, new data from research company GfK shows that consumer confidence in Germany is at its highest since late 2001.

The household confidence index is forecast to increase to 9.7 points in March from 9.3 points this month.

Reuters