Europe’s biggest economy isn’t running quite as smoothly as it used to. For the first time since 2013, the German unemployment rate rose: the ranks of the jobless made up 5% of the labor force in May, a tiny nudge up from 4.9% the month before. In absolute terms, the number of jobless Germans rose by 60,000 in the month, versus expectations for a fall of 8,000.
Europe’s biggest economy isn’t running quite as smoothly as it used to. For the first time since 2013, the German unemployment rate rose: the ranks of the jobless made up 5% of the labor force in May, a tiny nudge up from 4.9% the month before. In absolute terms, the number of jobless Germans rose by 60,000 in the month, versus expectations for a fall of 8,000.
Although the small uptick from historically low levels is not necessarily cause for alarm, the jobs news is keeping with sickly signals from other parts of the German economy. Still, the Federal Labor Agency notes roughly two-thirds of the increase in unemployed was due to a statistical reclassification.
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