In the key northern industrial region of Lombardy official unemployment fell to 1.7 per cent in 1962 and 1963.

However, official unemployment in 2008 was still nearly 16 percent and about a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the government.

While official unemployment is very low, underemployment - especially in rural areas - is estimated to be at least 20%.

Consumers continued to spend, although more cautiously toward the end of 1998, and official unemployment reached the lowest levels of the decade at 2.6 percent.

Last year it grew by 5.1 percent, official unemployment and inflation are dropping and the stock market is booming.

Does this mean that the official unemployment rate makes the job situation look better than it really is?

As a result, official unemployment is 77%.

Instead, with a worldwide slowdown and Germany's own structural inefficiencies, official unemployment is approaching four million.

In the last ten years, official unemployment has grown by more than 25% and now stands at 212 million worldwide, or 6.6% of the global workforce.

That would represent about 5 percent unemployment in a nation that has not known official unemployment.