German Unemployment Increases Less Than Forecast

(RTTNews) - Unemployment in Germany increased in December albeit at a slower-than-expected pace with the onset of the winter break, official data showed on Friday.

The number of jobless increased by 10,000 in December, a bigger increased compared to the 6,000 in November, the Federal Employment Agency reported. Unemployment was forecast to rise by 15,000.

The unemployment rate held steady at 6.1 percent in December, while it was expected to rise to 6.2 percent.

Unemployment and underemployment increased in December, as it is usual for this month, Andrea Nahles, the chairwoman of the Federal Employment Agency, said.

However, Nahles said the ongoing economic downturn in 2024 left increasingly deep marks on the labor market.

Further, data showed that job openings decreased around 59,000 from the previous year to 654,000 in December.

According to the labor force survey results, the German ILO jobless rate remained unchanged at adjusted 3.4 percent in November. The number of unemployed decreased by 2,000 from the previous month to 1.52 million, Destatis reported today.

On an unadjusted basis, unemployment increased 138,000 or 10.1 percent from the previous year. The jobless rate rose to 3.3 percent from 3.1 percent last November.