GERMANY'S unemployment rate declined to 7.5 percent in June thanks to an improving economy and a traditional springtime upturn, official data showed yesterday.

The unadjusted jobless rate was down from 7.7 percent in May, with the number of people registered as unemployed dropping by 88,000 to 3.153 million, the Federal Labor Agency said.

Compared with June 2009, some 257,000 fewer people were out of work.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of people unemployed dropped by 21,000 compared with May - a smaller drop than in the previous three months. The adjusted jobless rate was unchanged at 7.7 percent.

"The good labor market development of the past months continued in June; the major indicators have improved again," labor agency chief Frank-Juergen Weise said.

The agency also credited the economic upturn as Germany stages a modest recovery.