December 24, 2002	Tuesday	Shawwal 19, 1423

BERLIN, Dec 23: Unemployment in Germany is set to fall below the politically sensitive level of four million people next year, Economy and Labour Minister Wolfgang Clement said on Sunday.

Of course it is my ambition to contribute to an improvement in the labour market, Clement told a political talk show on public television ARD.

I assume we will make it and get below four million.

The German government has officially forecast an average unemployment figure of 4.1 million people in 2003.

With economic growth sluggish and the number of corporate bankruptcies set to continue rising, November data revealed an unexpectedly sharp rise in unemployment to above the four million mark.

Jobless figures published by the Federal Labour Office in Nuremberg showed 4.026 million people on the dole with the jobless rate at 9.7 per cent in November, up from 9.4 per cent in October.—AFP