BERLIN — Germany’s unemployment rate dipped to 6.9 percent in June as the booming economy bolstered the country’s labor market further, official figures showed Thursday.
The unadjusted jobless rate was down from 7 percent in May, and the number of people registered as unemployed was 2.893 million — the lowest figure for June since 1992. The total was 67,000 lower than the previous month and down 255,000 from a year earlier.
Strong exports and signs of a recovery in domestic demand have powered the German economy — Europe’s biggest — for more than a year now, making the country a standout in the 17-nation eurozone.
“The labor market is continuing to benefit from the German economy’s stable upswing,” the labor agency said in a statement.
After a first-quarter growth spurt, officials and economists have raised their forecasts for economic growth this year to 3 percent or more, following an increase of 3.6 percent in 2010.
In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of unemployed declined by a relatively subdued 8,000 in June compared with the previous month — matching the decrease in May — and the jobless rate remained unchaged at 7 percent.
“Labor market conditions will continue to improve in the months ahead,” though monthly declines in unemployment are likely to be less spectacular than they have been over the past year or so, IHS Global Insight economist Timo Klein said.
He pointed to risks to the economy from the eurozone debt crisis and its possible effects on the banking sector, as well as turmoil in the Arab world, but said that “overall, the economic recovery appears to have enough domestic stamina to lead to continually declining unemployment during 2011-12.”
However, data released Thursday that showed a 2.8 percent month-on-month decline in retail sales in May underlined long-running concerns over the how far the recovery will translate into consumer spending.
Although German retail figures are volatile and frequently revised, the trend has clearly been downward this year, ING economist Carsten Brzeski said — though “private consumption is more than only retail sales and here the track record is better.”
“The most plausible explanations for what looks like a mismatch between the labor market and private consumption come from the increasing share of low-wage-jobs, higher oil prices and private investments, mainly into housing,” he said.
“German households have become an important driver of the recovery, even if they don’t like to shop.”
Source: www.washingtonpost.com
The unadjusted jobless rate was down from 7 percent in May, and the number of people registered as unemployed was 2.893 million — the lowest figure for June since 1992. The total was 67,000 lower than the previous month and down 255,000 from a year earlier.
Strong exports and signs of a recovery in domestic demand have powered the German economy — Europe’s biggest — for more than a year now, making the country a standout in the 17-nation eurozone.
“The labor market is continuing to benefit from the German economy’s stable upswing,” the labor agency said in a statement.
After a first-quarter growth spurt, officials and economists have raised their forecasts for economic growth this year to 3 percent or more, following an increase of 3.6 percent in 2010.
In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of unemployed declined by a relatively subdued 8,000 in June compared with the previous month — matching the decrease in May — and the jobless rate remained unchaged at 7 percent.
“Labor market conditions will continue to improve in the months ahead,” though monthly declines in unemployment are likely to be less spectacular than they have been over the past year or so, IHS Global Insight economist Timo Klein said.
He pointed to risks to the economy from the eurozone debt crisis and its possible effects on the banking sector, as well as turmoil in the Arab world, but said that “overall, the economic recovery appears to have enough domestic stamina to lead to continually declining unemployment during 2011-12.”
However, data released Thursday that showed a 2.8 percent month-on-month decline in retail sales in May underlined long-running concerns over the how far the recovery will translate into consumer spending.
Although German retail figures are volatile and frequently revised, the trend has clearly been downward this year, ING economist Carsten Brzeski said — though “private consumption is more than only retail sales and here the track record is better.”
“The most plausible explanations for what looks like a mismatch between the labor market and private consumption come from the increasing share of low-wage-jobs, higher oil prices and private investments, mainly into housing,” he said.
“German households have become an important driver of the recovery, even if they don’t like to shop.”
Source: www.washingtonpost.com
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