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German jobs data weak

March 28, 2013

The unusually long winter in Europe this year has slowed March job creation in Germany. However, unlike most other eurozone countries, German unemployment has dropped again compared with previous months.

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Image: dapd

Nominal unemployment in Germany dropped by 58,000 in March compared with February to reach a total of 3.098 million people without jobs, according to latest data released by the German Labor Agency (BA) Thursday.

The jobless rate came in at 7.3 percent - down 0.1 percent from February, but higher than a year ago when it was 7.2 percent as a result of 70,000 Germans fewer on the dole, the BA data showed.

Labor agency Chief Frank-Jürgen Weise attributed the less-than-expected fall in unemployment to the harsh and unusually long winter weather which had hampered job creation notably in the construction sector.

"The German labor market remains unimpressed by the worsening economic conditions in the past few months and continues to develop robustly," Weise added.

Adjusted for seasonal factors, German unemployment actually rose by 13,000 from February. Analysts polled by Reuters news agency had predicted a fall in the seasonal figure by 4,000.

uhe/hc (Reuters, dpa)