BERLIN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Germany's unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points month-on-month to 5.1 percent in March, the Federal Employment Agency (BA) said on Thursday.

       "The labor market continues to recover. Due to the easing and the incipient spring revival, unemployment is falling," said the board member for regions at BA, Daniel Terzenbach. The consequences of the Russia-Ukraine crisis were "only sporadically reflected" in the figures.

       Unemployment figures in Germany in March decreased by 66,000 month-on-month to just over 2.36 million. Compared to March 2021, there were 465,000 fewer unemployed.

       Utilization of the government financed short-time work program also declined, with 654,000 German employees still receiving this state aid in January. At the height of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, the figure stood at just below six million, according to BA.