Labor Market | 28.08.2008
German Unemployment Falls in August
German unemployment fell by a bigger-than-forecast 40,000 to 3.2 million in August, the nation's labor agency said Thursday.
Analysts had expected seasonally-adjusted unemployment would drop by more a more modest 10,000 this month.
Commenting on the data, labour agency chief Frank-Juergen Weise said the positive tendency in the labour market continued and that the slackening economy had so far not any impact on jobs.
Indeed, the August fall came despite other indicators pointing to slowing economic growth with two key surveys released earlier this week showing both business and consumer confidence falling.
The German economy contracted during the second quarter on the back of slower corporate investment.
In the more politically important seasonally-unadjusted terms, the numbers out of work in the country fell by 14,000 to 3.196 million which brought the jobless rate down to 7.6 percent from 7.5 percent in July.
The August seasonally-unadjusted figure was 510,000 less than in the same month last year.
