BERLIN: German joblessness unexpectedly fell in October and the unemployment rate held steady at 6.7 percent, data from the Federal Labour Office showed on Thursday, underlining the strength of the job market in Europe's largest economy.

The number of unemployed people decreased by 22,000 to 2.887 million, seasonally-adjusted data showed.

That confounded expectations in a Reuters poll for a rise of 5,000 and fell further than even the lowest estimate for a drop of 13,000.

Copyright Reuters, 2014