2020.02.2808:58:00UTC+00German Unemployment Falls Unexpectedly

German unemployment declined unexpectedly in February, the Federal Employment Agency revealed Friday.

The number of people out of work decreased 10,000 in February, confounding expectations for an increase of 5,000.

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate was unchanged at a near-record low of 5 percent in February, in line with expectations.

Unemployment and underemployment declined in February, benefitting from the mild weather, Federal Employment Agency CEO Detlef Scheele said.

The labor force survey from Destatis today showed that the adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.2 percent in January. The unadjusted rate rose to 3.4 percent from 3.2 percent in December.

The number of unemployed persons totaled 1.41 million.

According to provisional results, the number of persons in employment decreased 347,000 or 0.8 percent in January.