German Unemployment Drops Unexpectedly

(RTTNews) - Germany's unemployment dropped unexpectedly but the overall jobless rate remained unchanged in October, data from the Federal Employment Agency showed Thursday.

The number of people out of work decreased 1,000 from the prior month, confounding expectations for an increase of 8,000. This followed an increase of 13,000 in September.

The jobless rate held steady at 6.3 percent in October, as expected.

Employment growth remains weak and demand for new employees is low, Federal Employment Agency Chairwoman Andrea Nahles said. Overall, the autumn recovery has been lackluster so far, Nahles added.

Another report from the statistical office, based on the labor force survey, showed that the number of unemployed increased 15,000 from the previous month to 1.71 million in September.

The adjusted unemployment rate rose to 3.9 percent in September from 3.8 percent in August, Destatis said.