German jobless total hits 5-month low in February

FRANKFURT, Feb 28, (AFP): The German labour market continues to defy the eurozone debt crisis, with the jobless total falling to its lowest level in five months in February, official data showed on Thursday.

On the face of it, headline unemployment rose this month, but that was primarily due to seasonal factors, monthly data compiled by the Federal Labour Office showed.

The raw or unadjusted jobless total rose by 18,013 to 3.156 million and the jobless rate — which measures the number of unemployed as a proportion of the working population as a whole — was steady at 7.4 percent.

Nevertheless, the seasonally-adjusted jobless total — which irons out seasonal fluctuations — fell by 3,000 to 2.917 million, its lowest level since September, the agency said.

Analysts had been increase of around 1,500.

The seasonally-adjusted jobless was

expecting

an also unchanged at 6.9 percent.

“Following weak growth in the preceding quarters, the German economy contracted by 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. But the chances have improved that the economy will recover again during the course of 2013,” said labour agency chief Frank-Juergen Weise.

“Positive signals are coming from stable orders and brightening economic expectations. The labour market remains in fundamentally good shape and is reacting robustly to the difficult economic environment,” Weise said. Analysts agreed. “The German labour market confirmed the recent signs of resilience in February,” said Annalisa Piazza at Newedge Strategy.

At 6.9 percent, the jobless rate remains “very close to its record low since German unification in the early 1990s,” she said.