Europe

Home page

Europe

German jobless rate up slightly in December

05 January 2011 00:35 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A freezing start to the winter pushed unemployment in Germany back above 3 million in December, but Europe’s biggest economy still ended 2010 with far fewer people out of work than at the start of the year, official figures showed Tuesday, APA reports quoting The Associated Press.

The Federal Labor Agency revealed 85,000 people joined the ranks of the unemployed in December, taking the total out of work to 3.016 million â€” it only fell below that level in October for the first time in two years .

The increase was largely attributed to the early onset of freezing temperatures and snow.

December’s increase raised the jobless rate by 0.2 percentage points to 7.2 percent.

Despite the December increase, unemployment is still 260,000 lower than in the same month of 2009. And over the year, 3.244 million Germans registered for unemployment benefits, 179,000 fewer than in 2009.

"The December numbers bring to an end a year that exceeded even the most audacious expectations," Labor Minister Ursula von der Leyen told reporters. "Nearly all experts predicted a sharp rise in the number of unemployed."

The German economy rebounded strongly in 2010 as increasing exports in a recovering global economy have been accompanied by signs of improving domestic demand.

The hope is that the economic recovery will continue to gather pace in the coming year especially as business confidence ended 2010 on a high, in contrast to many economists’ expectations.

German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle welcomed the 2010 jobless numbers as proof of solid growth.

"The past year on the job market was a success," Bruederle said in a statement. "The strong growth helped employment to reach a historic high, driving the number of jobless below the 3 million mark."

Not all predictions are so rosy though.

Analysts at the DIW economic institute have a more conservative prediction of 2.2 percent growth for 2011, insisting that the past year was an exception that would not quickly be repeated.

"The recovery effect played a major role in 2010 growth," said Ferdinand Fichtner, an analyst at DIW.