German unemployment steady at historic low in June

[FRANKFURT] German unemployment remained at historically low levels in June as the recovery in Europe's biggest economy remained on track, data showed on Tuesday.

The number of people registered as unemployed in Germany fell by a seasonally-adjusted 1,000 to 2.786 million, the lowest level since December 1991, the Federal Labour Office said.

That was slightly fewer than expected, as analysts had been pencilling 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 per cent in June, unchanged from May and the lowest level since west and east Germany reunited in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall the previous year.

In raw or unadjusted terms, the jobless total decreased by 50,500 to 2.711 million and the jobless rate fell to 6.2 percent in June from 6.3 percent in May, the labour office said.

Growth of German domestic product (GDP) slowed in the first quarter, but concrete data so far appear to suggest that the momentum will pick up slightly in the second quarter, the labour office said.

"Looking ahead to the second half of 2015, economic expectations have clouded over somewhat. But the trend on the labour market remains favourable, albeit somewhat slower than in the first quarter," it said.

AFP