Gainfully Employed

Even though Germany's economy is showing early signs of cooling, employment figures look good for the rest of 2007, according to government figures and analyst predictions. Numbers released Thursday by two federal agencies show that employers were hiring and that there were labor shortages in high-demand fields such as engineering.

In August, employment figures hit a post-unification high of 39.7 million people, according to the Federal Statistics Office. When adjusted for seasonal differences, employment rose by about 19,000 in comparison with the previous month. It's the country's 19th straight gain and represents the largest workforce since German reunification, according to the office.

Drop in unemployment more than predicted

The employment data lags one month behind the unemployment numbers, which were also released Thursday. Those show that the jobless rate in Germany fell even more sharply than anticipated to 8.4 percent in September. The August figures were at 8.8 percent, according to the Federal Employment Agency.

The Bundesbank released numbers that showed the number of unemployed workers dropped month over month by 50,000 in September.

"The summer break is over, particularly in the labor market," Federal Employment Agency head Frank Weise told reporters Thursday.

High demand in technical fields

Weise and industry analysts predict the employment rates to continue marching upwards until at least early next year.

"We are seeing an especially strong autumn recovery," Weise said. "The jobless rate sank at a faster rate than the average in the last few years. At the same time the number of jobs with social benefits continued to rise and the demand for labor is at a high level."

An increasing domestic and international demand for German products has meant a shortage in professions such as engineers, metal workers and electricians. With German industry operating at 90 percent capacity and a shortage of workers such as engineers, "there are enough reasons to hire,'' Michael Hüther, president of the Cologne-based IW economic institute, said in an interview with Bloomberg news agency.

Unemployment among older workers had also fallen sharply, with 300,000 fewer jobless over 50 years of age than during the same period last year, Labor Minister Franz Müntefering said in a statement that. He attributed the decrease to a government program targetting that age group.

Trend expected to continue until next year

Although there are some signs of a gradual slowdown in the German economy, analysts said the job market did not seem to be hurt by the international financial crisis, high energy prices and weakness of the dollar versus the euro.

"We have no reason to correct our targets," Weise said Thursday, referring the Federal Employment Agency's forecast that the average number of jobless will be 3.8 million this year and 3.5 million next year.

Postbank Research economist Brian Mandt said he expected further improvement in the jobless rate before the end of the year.

"The rise in the number of employed people should also continue in the months to come," he was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

The "amazing" drop in unemployment could spur consumer spending, Sylvain Broyer, an economist with IXIS Corporate & Investment Bank, told AFP.

"The fall in unemployment by 50,000 in September beat the consensus forecast," Broyer said. "This strengthens our hypothesis for a sharp acceleration in private spending next year. We continue to [expect] the German unemployment level to reach a low next year."