Recruiting in China

GERMAN unemployment fell more than expected in November to the lowest in four years as increased optimism in the economy prompted companies to hire and the warmest fall on record buoyed the construction industry, a government agency said yesterday.

The number of people out of work, adjusted for seasonal swings, fell 86,000 to 4.24 million, the lowest since November 2002, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said.

Economists expected a decline of 30,000, according to the median of 34 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. The adjusted jobless rate fell to 10.2 percent, a rate last recorded in December 2002.