German unemployment rises more than expected in March, labour office says

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German unemployment rises more than expected in March, labour office says

, Reuters - 4:55 AM ET 3/28/2025 default

BERLIN, March 28 (Reuters) - The number of people out of work in Germany rose at a faster rate than expected in March, federal labour office figures showed on Friday.

The office said the number of unemployed increased by 26,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.92 million. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected that figure to rise by 10,000.

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose to 6.3% from 6.2% the previous month, slightly higher than a forecast of analysts polled by Reuters.

"March marks the start of the so-called spring recovery on the labour market. This year, however, the economic slump is noticeably slowing it down," said Andrea Nahles, the head of the labour office.

Smarting from two consecutive years of decline in 2023 and 2024, Europe's largest economy is still battling with persistent weakness and structural headwinds in industry.

The number of unemployed people in Germany has not been above three million over the last 10 years. (Reporting by Friederike Heine and Holger Hansen Editing by Ludwig Burger)

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