German unemployment rises to 5.3 per cent in January

Germany’s unemployment rate increased in January, as is usual for the start of the year, to 5.3 per cent, the Federal Employment Agency reported on Thursday.

The unemployment rate went up by 0.4 percentage points on the previous month.

Some 2.426 million people were unemployed in Europe’s biggest economy in the first month of the year, 198,000 more than the corresponding period in 2018.

Federal Employment Agency chairman Detlef Scheele attributed the trend to seasonal circumstances. The winter months for example bring fewer construction jobs due to poor weather.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment figure showed a slight reduction of 2,000, the agency said.

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