German jobs market freezes in January

Germany's Labor Agency (BA) reported Thursday that the number of Germans out of work rose to 3.03 million in January, which was 0.6 percent higher than in the previous month.

The official unemployment rate rose to 7 percent because of "seasonal factors" such as a lull in construction activity and tourism, the agency said.

When adjusted for those factors, the rate had actually dropped to 6.5 percent from 6.6 percent in December, with the number of jobless Germans statistically down by 9,000 to 2.84 million. This seasonally-adjusted figure marked the fourth consecutive monthly decline and drove unemployment to its lowest in the month in 20 years, BA added.

BA also noted that 42.87 million Germans had a job in January - which was 404,000 more than in the same month a year ago and a sign that "the employment trend remains clearly upward" in Germany.

The BA job figures came in the wake of more good news from the German economy seeing key indicators such as business sentiment and consumer confidence both rising in the first month of 2015.

Underscoring the strength of Europe's biggest economy, the Economics Ministry on Wednesday boosted its 2015 growth forecast to 1.5 percent, saying it expected an additional 170,000 new jobs to be created this year. The introduction of a national minimum wage in January, would not adversely effect job creation, it said.

BA chief Hans-Jürgen Weise noted, however, that it was still too early to measure the effects of the minimum wage that came into effect on January 1 and that relevant economic sectors were being closely monitored by his agency.

uhe/ng (AP, dpa, Reuters)