–Previous Results: Feb +16k, Jan +20k, Dec +35k, Nov -1k, Oct -21k
FRANKFURT (MNI) – The number of employed in Germany rose by 16,000
in February in seasonally adjusted terms, the Federal Statistical Office
reported on Wednesday.
The rise brings the number of employed to 40.126 million, as
measured in ILO terms.
February marks the third month of seasonally-adjusted employment
gains after nine months of decline.
In seasonally unadjusted terms, the number of jobless was 39.8
million, reflecting a increase of 45,000 compared to January.
On the year, the number of employed was down 0.3% or 138,000,
marking a further slowdown in the annual decline, the statistics office
noted.
IAB, the research arm of Germany’s Labor Agency, has projected that
unemployment will continue rising in 2010 with an average increase in
joblessness of 120,000.
Correspondingly, employment numbers are unlikely to pick up any
time soon, the head of Germany’s Agency for Labor, Frank-Juergen Weise,
told Market News International in an interview published last week.
German companies will start making net new hires “at the earliest in
2011, but more likely in 2012,” Weise predicted.
The Labour Agency is scheduled to release March’s jobless figures
at 8:55 GMT. The median forecast in an MNI survey of analysts puts the
seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 8.2%, unchanged from last
month, while the number of jobless is seen rising by 5,000.
–Frankfurt bureau: +49-69-720 142, email: frankfurt@marketnews.com
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