BERLIN, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Employment in German manufacturing has reached the highest level since the beginning of measurements, official figures published by the Federal Statistical Office showed on Monday.

The number of employees in the sector rose by 116,000, or 2.1 percent, in November 2017 over the same period of last year to a record total of around 5.5 million.

"Manufacturing has thus reached a new high for the number of employees since the beginning of our time series in January 2005," a statement by the Federal Statistical Office read.

The Wiesbaden-based government statisticians attributed the positive development to Germany's current economic boom. Production grew at the fastest rate in eight years in November as well, while exports soared a three-year high and the value of outstanding industrial orders stood at record level.

Most new manufacturing jobs in November were created in the sub-category of electrical equipment producers (plus 4.1 percent), followed by animal feed and food production (plus 4.0 percent). The headcount of metal producers grew by 2.8 percent, while machine production employment increased by 2.2 percent.

In September, the most recent month for which official data are available, manufacturing wages rose by 3.6 percent compared to the same period in 2016. The number of hours worked simultaneously increased by 1.7 percent to a total of 748 million.

The figures come as growing optimism about the economic prospects of Germany and the wider eurozone has seen the single currency rise against other major currencies at the start of the year.