German Unemployment Exceeds 3 Mln

(RTTNews) - Germany's unemployment exceeded the three million-mark for the first time in a decade in August as the prolonged period of subdued economic activity weighed on the labor market.

The number of unemployed persons increased by 46,000 from the previous year to 3.025 million in August.

However, unemployment fell by adjusted 9,000 compared to the previous month, while it was forecast to increase by 10,000. Consequently, the jobless rate held steady at 6.3 percent in August and also matched economists' expectations.

Due to the summer break, unemployment rose to over 3 million, Federal Employment Agency Chairwoman Andrea Nahles said.

The labor market is still affected by the economic downturn of recent years, Nahles added. However, there are also initial signs of stabilization, she noted.

In July, the number of unemployed increased by 1,000 from the previous month to 1.64 million, the labor force survey results, published by Destatis showed earlier on Friday. The ILO jobless rate remained unchanged at 3.7 percent.

ING economist Carsten Brzeski said the deterioration of the German labor market is not a sudden development but part of a longer trend.

The tentative signs of a bottoming out of the labor market have given way to a more pessimistic outlook, the economist noted. Things will get worse before they get better, Breski added.