(RTTNews) - Germany's unemployment rate rose unexpectedly in November as the economic downturn damped job creation, official data revealed on Thursday.
The jobless rate rose to 5.9 percent in November, while it was forecast to remain unchanged at 5.8 percent. The rate was the highest in two and a half years.
The number of people out of work increased by 22,000 after rising 31,000 in the previous month. Unemployment was forecast to climb 23,000.
The economic downturn continues to leave its mark on the German labor market, the Federal Employment Agency Chief Andrea Nahles said.
Employment is only growing slightly and the demand for labor is still declining, Nahles added.
Data showed that there were 733,000 job openings in November. But this was 90,000 less than a year ago.
Based on the results of the labor force survey, Destatis said that the unemployment rate remained unchanged at adjusted 3.1 percent in October.
Unemployment increased by 7,000 from the previous month to 1.36 million.
On an unadjusted basis, the jobless rate edged up to 3.1 percent in October from 3.0 percent in the previous year.
Another data from Destatis showed that retail sales growth exceeded expectations in October. Retail sales advanced 1.1 percent from a month ago, faster than the 0.4 percent expected gain.
Year-on-year, retail sales decreased 0.1 percent. Nonetheless, this was better than economists' forecast of 2.0 percent decline.
