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Unemployment level stays at record low

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Unemployment level stays at record low
Photo: DPA

German unemployment remained at historically low levels in August as the recovery in Europe's biggest economy continued on track, data showed on Tuesday.

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The number of people registered as unemployed in Germany fell by a seasonally-adjusted 7,000 to 2.79 million, the lowest level since December 1991, the Federal Labour Office said.

That was slightly more than expected, as analysts had been penciling in a decline of around 5,000.

The unemployment rate - which measures the jobless total against the working population as a whole - stood at 6.4 percent in August, unchanged from July and the lowest level since west and east Germany reunited in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall the previous year.

The number of people in full-time employment also rose in seasonally adjusted terms by 41,400 from July to 30,722,000. This number rose by 547,000 in comparison with August 2014.

The figures also show a 15.9 percent increase in the number of job positions advertised since August 2014.

In raw or unadjusted terms, the jobless total increased by 22,900 to 2.796 million and the unemployment rate edged up to 6.4 percent in August from 6.3 percent in July, the labour office noted.

But unemployment tends to rise in the summer months as school leavers sign on for the summer holidays.

Growth of German domestic product (GDP) picked up in the second quarter, the labour office said.

"The moderately positive upward trend is continuing... (and) the labour market continues to develop favourably," it said.

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