Sponsored Links
German unemployment unexpectedly dropped in October as various measures to boost employment proved effective in curbing rising joblessness amid the global economic crisis.
The number of people without jobs fell a seasonally adjusted 26,000 to 3.43 million in October, data released by the Federal Labor Agency showed Thursday. Economists had expected the number to rise by 15,000 in the month, following a revised fall of 15,000 in September.
"We still expect the recession and the financial-market crisis to have more of an adverse effect soon on the labor market than has so far been the case," Commerzbank analyst Eckart Tuchtfeld said. However, the analyst noted that unemployment will not experience a sudden drastic change as employers are evidently adopting a cautious approach. But, it would continue rising this winter and well into 2010.
Unemployment has been falling since July after hitting its peak in March. The jobless rate fell to 8.1% in October from 8.2% in September, while economists' had forecast the rate to rise to 8.3%.
"The fall in unemployment rate signals a slight rebound in activity since last summer," BNP Paribas economist Catherine Stephan said. The economist said Germany's recovery in the second quarter was a "technical" rebound mainly fueled by the end of the destocking process. This rebound should be temporary, and growth will be weak in 2010.
The figures came a day after Chancellor Angela Merkel's new government of Conservatives and Free Democrats took power. The coalition has already promised controversial tax cuts worth EUR 24 billion in an effort to boost growth and kick start the economy.
In the second quarter, the biggest Eurozone economy expanded 0.3% after contracting in past four quarters. The government has poured billions of euros to shore-up the recession hit economy. In the run up to the election, Merkel implemented several measures to save jobs, which later worked to turn votes on her favor.
Excluding the change implemented in the method of calculating unemployment, the jobless number fell 20,000, the labor agency said. The new rule, which came into force in May 2009, instructs the labor agency to exclude people attending training in a company as unemployed. The unadjusted total fell 118,000 to 3.229 million, its lowest level since December of last year.
However, there are lingering concerns regarding the labor market. Recently, the closely watched GfK survey revealed that German consumer confidence for November deteriorated unexpectedly as concern over the labor market problems weighed on the assessment of the personal economic situation and income expectations. Contrastingly, business confidence rose for the seventh consecutive month in October to reach a thirteen-month high in a key survey by the Ifo institute.
0 komentar:
Post a Comment