The number of jobless persons in Germany increased significantly more than expected in May as extreme weather conditions and the ongoing crisis in the euro area weakened economic activity, but the unemployment rate stayed close to the historically low levels, the latest data showed Wednesday.
The number of unemployed persons climbed 21,000 to around 2.963 million in May, which was sharply higher than April's growth of 6,000, the Labor Ministry said. Economists had forecast a more modest increase of 5,000. In March, the number of unemployed had increased by 12,000.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, however, remained unchanged at 6.9 percent in May, which was in line with economists' expectations. The figure stayed close to the the lowest level since the country was reunified more than twenty years ago.
Elsewhere, a report from the statistical office today said that Germany's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.4 percent in April. There were around 2.26 million unemployed persons in April, 4.6 percent lower than in the previous month. However, the unemployment rate increased 1.8 percent from April 2012.
Underlining the weakness of the German labor market, the latest purchasing managers' survey showed that employment levels in the private sector economy contracted significantly in May.
The German economy narrowly averted a recession in the first quarter, helped by a rebound in consumer spending. At the same time, the recovery was stifled by a further fall in fixed asset investment and extreme weather conditions.
Gross domestic product rose 0.1 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter, recovering from fourth quarter's 0.7 percent contraction.
This month, the Bundesbank said Germany's economic activity is likely to improve significantly in the second quarter. However, the bank cautioned that there remains significant macroeconomic risks to the domestic economy from the economic crisis in the Eurozone.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com