German unemployment adjusted forseasonal factors fell by a bigger-than-expected 33,000 in June, according to a source familiar with data to be published later.
Analysts had been expecting the jobless total to rise by up to 15,000.
Economists said the fall was probably mainly due to a recent change in labour laws.
Unemployment was 18,000 lower in west Germany, and 15,000 down in the east in seasonally adjusted terms, said a source with knowledge of data to be released by the Federal Labour Office today.
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The jobless decline in May was revised to down 10,000 from an originally reported fall of 4,000 in seasonally adjusted terms.
Headline unadjusted unemployment fell to 4.257 million from 4.342 million in May.