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German jobless figures edge up

July 31, 2013

Germany's federal employment agency has said the number of jobless people in Europe's biggest economy has gone up slightly, at least in unadjusted terms. Analysts said it was a normal development for July.

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People arrive at a center of the Federal Work Agency Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Image: Getty Images

The number of jobless people in Germany rose to 2.914 million in July, the Federal Employment Office in Nuremberg (BA) reported Wednesday.

It said the figure meant a rise of 49,000 people month-on-month, while 38,000 people more were out of work in a year-on-year comparison.

The agency said the unemployment rate thus edged up by 0.2 percent on the previous month to total 6.8 percent.

Retirees return to work to buoy production

A matter of perspective

BA chief Frank-Jürgen Weise insisted the slight rise in joblessness was quite a normal development for the summer month in which many people had summer holidays and many companies reduced production schemes. He also said many young people had registered unemployed after finishing school or vocational training.

"In the second quarter of the year the German economy has obviously picked up momentum again," Weise commented, with official growth figures still pending. He expressed the hope that the labor market in Germany would remain in a robust state.

In seasonally adjusted terms, unemployment even sank by 7,000 people in July to total 2.934 million people nationwide.

hg/tj (Reuters, dpa)