BERLIN, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The number of people in unemployment in 2016 fell to the lowest level since 1991, official data showed on Tuesday.
The number of unemployed people in Germany increased in December 2016 by 36,000 from the previous month to 2.568 million, raising the German jobless rate by 0.1 percent to 5.8 percent, data from the German Federal Employment Agency showed.
Compared with the number in December 2015, the figure of unemployed people last month were down by 113,000.
"The positive trend in unemployment continued at the end of the year. The long-term strong employment development has weakened noticeably since the summer months, but the demand for new employees is still very high," said Frank-Juergen Weise, head of the agency.
On average, 2.691 million people were registered as unemployed in Germany in 2016, 104,000 fewer than in 2015. The unemployment rate also decreased by 0.3 percent year on year to 6.1 percent.
This is the first for the number of unemployed people to fall below the mark of 2.7 million since 1991. "Less unemployed people were registered last time in 1991," Weise said on the monthly press conference in Nuremberg.
"The labor market has developed favorably in 2016. The number of unemployed people has fallen again, employment has risen again, especially in the first half of the year, and the demand for new employees has again increased strongly," Weise added.
German federal statistical office Destatis reported on Monday approximately 43.4 million people residing in Germany were in employment in 2016, representing the highest level since the German reunification in 1990.
According to a latest survey carried out by the accounting firm Ernst & Young (EY), not even one out of ten Germans worries about his job.
More than two thirds of surveyed people, exactly 67 percent, consider their workplace to be very safe, while another 26 percent believe their jobs to be safe.
"This is the best assessment of job security since the start of EY surveys in 2008," the survey showed.
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