German Unemployment Rises Marginally

Germany's unemployment rose slightly and job vacancies decreased in January as the manufacturing sector faces severe downturn, official data revealed on Friday.

The number of people out of work increased by 11,000 in January after rising 10,000 in December, the Federal Employment Agency said. Unemployment was expected to increase more sharply by 14,000.

The unemployment rate edged up to 6.2 percent in January from 6.1 percent in December. The rate came in line with expectations.

Further, data showed that job vacancies decreased by 66,000 from a year ago to around 632,000 in January.

Unemployment and underemployment increased significantly in January, which is usual in this period, Andrea Nahles, the chairwoman of the Federal Employment Agency, said. Employment growth is continuing, but is losing more and more momentum, she added.

Elsewhere, based on the labor force survey, Destatis said the adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.4 percent in December. Compared to November, the number of unemployed rose by 2,000 or 0.1 percent to 1.52 million.

On an unadjusted basis, the jobless rate rose to 3.2 percent in December from 2.9 percent in the same period last year.