|
German jobless on the rise
|
 |
January 8, 1999: 7:44 a.m. ET
Unemployment rises as government cuts back on labor schemes
|
London (CNNfn) - The number of jobless Germans edged up in December as the government cut back on labor schemes which provide temporary employment and contractors laid off construction workers with the onset of winter.
Seasonally-adjusted figures, released by the Federal Labor Office Friday, put the jobless total at 4.158 million, a rise of 34,000 from November.
Independent analysts had expected a seasonally-adjusted increase of 30,000 in December.
The headline unemployment rate, based on unadjusted data, rose to 10.9% compared with 10.2% in November as the actual number of the jobless rose to 4.197 million.
The rise exceeded analysts' expectations but economists say it is too early to conclude that the rise in jobless points to a real slowdown in the German economy.
Economists say the rise is mainly due to a reduction in government job creation schemes launched earlier in the year with the aim of providing both training and temporary employment.
"The figures are not proof yet of an economic slowdown as they are being distorted by cutbacks in work creation programs,'' said Holger Schmieding, senior economist at Merrill Lynch in London.
Federal Labor Office president Bernhard Jagoda said the jobless increase was mainly due to seasonal factors such as a temporary laying off of construction workers at the onset of winter.
The figures highlighted strong regional differences as the jobless rate in eastern Germany remained almost double that in the more affluent western part at 17.4%.
Unemployment in eastern Germany rose by 26,000 to 1.315 million on an adjusted basis in December while the number of people out of work in western Germany increased by 6,000 to 2.842 million. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
