German unemployment rose in January by 7,000 from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted 3.774 million, the German Labour Office said today.
The increase, which officials blamed on unusually bad weather last month, confounded analysts' predictions, which had clustered round a consensus for an adjusted fall of 20,000.
On an unadjusted basis, reflecting a sharp seasonal rise in lay-offs from the building trade and other businesses affected by the weather, unemployment rose 284,000 to give an unadjusted total of 4.093 million.
"A rise of 7,000 is naturally disappointing and worse than expected," said Mr Christoph Hausen at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
"I think that despite the loss of dynamism, we will still have growth. Therefore the European Central Bank is unlikely to do anything on rates this month," another Frankfurt analyst said.
Reuters