FRANKFURT (AFP) - The ranks of the unemployed in Germany increased in October for the ninth straight month, the Federal Labour Agency said in a report that threatened government efforts to shrink the public deficit.
The number of jobless last month rose a seasonally-adjusted 12,000 to 4.457 million people from September, it said, confirming figures obtained earlier from an informed source.
Economists had expected an adjusted rise of 15,000-20,000 in October.
"The German economy is still on a growth course. Despite this positive tendency, no turnaround on the labour market can yet be recognised," Labour Agency president Frank Weise said.
In the states of western Germany, the adjusted number of jobless rose 14,000 from the previous month, while in eastern states it fell by 2,000.
The adjusted jobless rate remained unchanged at 10.7 percent.
Uncorrected for seasonal variations, the number of unemployed workers fell by 50,108 to 4.206 million, leaving a jobless rate of 10.1 percent, down 0.2 points from September.
The federal employment agency last month warned that the uncorrected jobless number could break through the symbolic five-million barrier this winter at a time when the government is struggling to keep its public deficit in line with eurozone regulations.
Germany and its 11 fellow eurozone members are bound by the 1997 Stability and Growth pact to hold annual public deficits to less than three percent of gross domestic product.
But Germany, the largest eurozone economy, has repeatedly failed to meet that requirement and, according to the International Monetary Fund, could do so again next year. In the absence of corrective measures, the Fund said Tuesday, the public shortfall in 2005 could come to 3.4 percent of output.
Rising unemployment would mean lower tax revenues as well as higher spending on unemployment compensation.
11/03/2004 - 11:19 GMT - AFP