Germany unemployment rate to rise

The already high unemployment rate in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, will rise further this year after the country suffered its worst post-war recession in 2009, a report said on Sunday.

Germany faces “several difficult months when we could see the jobless getting close to some four million,” Labour Minister Ursula von der Leyen told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

In January, the unadjusted unemployment rate — the reference for public debate — jumped to 8.6 percent, with a total of 3.617 million unemployed, from 7.8 percent in December, according to official figures.

Germany’s export-driven economy shrank five percent last year in the fallout from the global slump but the government expects it to grow 1.4 percent this year.

Analysts have said they expect the jobless problem to get worse given the tepid rebound anticipated for 2010.
Source: AFP