Seasonal unemployment rises in Germany

by Darwin on February 8, 2013

Mixed news from Germany reveals that the number of people out of work in Europe’s largest economy rose to 7.4%, with 298,000 more people finding themselves without a job in January than the previous month. Seasonal factors and harsh weather were among the reasons why that total increased, but seasonal adjustments revealed something more encouraging for Germany.

According to the country’s treasury, after taking usual seasonal changes at the start of a new year into account, the unemployment rate actually fell from 6.9% to 6.8%, which among other things reveal how the economy is remaining steady.

A spokesperson from FXSolutions.com had this to say on the data coming out of Germany: “German jobless data proved more positive than retail sales.  The figure surprised many with the unemployment rate falling from 6.9% to 6.8%.  As such, the German data out on Jan 31st was rather mixed.”

The latest set of data also revealed that some industries were harder hit than others, partly owing to adverse weather, but the economy as a whole had experienced a little turbulence. In the final quarter of 2012, the economy contracted by as much as 0.5%, while growth over the past year as a whole stood at just 0.7%.

Retail sales figures were among the more disappointing statistics to come out of Germany last month. Sales in 2012 dropped by 0.3% from 2011’s figures, while the month on month stats reveal that sales for December had dropped by 1.7% compared to November. This paints an uncertain picture in Germany, although issues in other parts of the Eurozone have complicated things.

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Brick By Brick Investing | Marvin February 8, 2013 at 11:58 am

I’m not going to begin to act as if I have the answer to the problems around the world. However I think we can all agree that things need to change if we want any chance of sustaining the world we once knew. It looks as if we are headed for a global recession.

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