Just 5.9 percent of people were out of work in January, seasonally-adjusted figures from the Federal Labour Agency (BA) showed, a slight fall of 0.1 percentage points.
Analysts surveyed by Factset had forecast unemployment would remain at the 6.0-percent level it first reached in October.
In seasonally-adjusted figures, 26,000 fewer people were out of work in January than in December.
"The labour market made a good start to the new year," BA chief Frank-Juergen Weise said in a statement.
The shift downwards puts unemployment at an all-time low since the country's reunification in 1990, continuing a downward trend visible since 2009.
January's slight fall in unemployment follows on the heels of a strong consumer confidence survey and a healthy uptick in inflation to 1.9 percent.
But the strong indicators are overshadowed by concerns about what a year full of political uncertainty over Donald Trump, Brexit, and a string of elections in the eurozone will bring.
The closely-watched Ifo business confidence survey fell to its lowest level since September in January, with firms happy with their present state but fearful for the coming six months.
Germany's federal government predicts growth will fall back to 1.4 percent in 2017 after hitting 1.9 percent last year, although it says much of the drop will be due to a lower number of working days.
