Unemployment figures
June 1, 2010
The unemployment rate in Germany sank to 7.7 percent in May 2010, compared to 8.1 percent the month before, according to figures released Tuesday by the Federal Labor Agency.
3.242 million people were unemployed last month, which is 217,000 fewer people than May 2009, and 165,000 fewer people than in April 2010. Analysts had expected a much smaller drop in unemployment.
"The employment market's improvement early this year continued in May," said the agency director, Frank-Juergen Weise. "The present development is an important indicator of noticeable improvement."
Analysts hailed the numbers as evidence that the country's economy was rebounding from the recession.
"Successful labor market reforms, the government's famous crisis tool of short-work schemes and companies' prudence have made the labor market the bright spot of the recession," said ING senior economist Carsten Brzeski told Agence France Presse.
Germany was the only eurozone member to record a drop in unemployment since the same period in 2009. According to figures also released Tuesday, unemployment in the eurozone as a whole increased to 10.1 percent, the highest rate since the euro came into existence in 1999.
svs/dpa/APN/AFP
Editor: Michael Lawton