BERLIN, March 24: German unemployment should drop below four million on average this year, the head of the Federal Labour Office was quoted as saying on Saturday.

In an interview with German weekly magazine WirtschaftsWoche, Frank-Juergen Weise said following February's drop in unemployment, he expected another decline in March.

On average this year, I also think the number of people without work should be a bit below 4 million, providing nothing unexpected happens, he said.

Since hitting a post-war high of more than 5 million in early 2005, German unemployment has fallen steadily.

The headline total eased to just over 4.2 million in February.

A pick-up in job creation last year, when the economy grew at its fastest pace in six years, has spurred hopes the expanding workforce could help offset the negative impact of a three percentage point rises in sales tax at the start of 2007.

The Labour Office is due to publish unemployment figures for March shortly before 0800 GMT on Thursday. The mid-range forecast of economists polled by Reuters was for a fall on the month of 40,000, adjusted for seasonal effects.---Reuters