The number of people out of work in Germany remained stubbornly above four million in August with the nascent economic recovery not yet able to feed through into the labour markets.
The situation could improve next year as the economic upturn continues to gather momentum, German economists said. Official data published by the Federal Labour Office yesterday showed that the pan-German jobless total stood at 4,024,000 last month, equivalent to 10.3 per cent of the working population.
That represents practically no change from July when the jobless total stood at 4,027,000 and the jobless rate was also 10.3 per cent.
The labour office figures do not take seasonal factors into account. Data published separately by the Bundesbank do.
In those figures, the pan-German jobless total rose to a seasonally-adjusted 4,123,000 in August from 4,119,000 in July, with the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remaining unchanged at 10.5 per cent.
The situation was unlikely to show any substantial improvement in the near term, said labour office president, Mr Bernhard Jagoda. While there were increasing signs that the economy was recovering, these would first have to translate into increased output and capacity utilisation before feeding through to the labour markets, Mr Jagoda said.
That view was shared by Deutsche Bank Research economist Mr Harald Finger, who predicted little change in the jobless numbers for the rest of the year, with the first cyclical effects only making themselves felt in December or January. "We are very optimistic for next year," Mr Finger added.
