German unemployment increased more than expected in March as economic downturn continued to weigh on labor market activity, official data showed Friday.
The number of people out of work increased 26,000 to 2.92 million, the Federal Employment Agency reported. Unemployment was expected to climb 10,000 after rising 9,000 in February.
The unemployment rate rose to 6.3 percent in March, while it was expected to remain unchanged at 6.3 percent.
The so-called spring recovery in the labor market begins in March, Andrea Nahles, the head of the Federal Employment Agency said.
However, this year, too, the economic downturn is noticeably slowing the recovery, Nahles added.
Another data from Destatis showed that the jobless rate remained unchanged at 3.5 percent in February. There were 1.56 million unemployed, up 5,000 or 0.3 percent from January.
On an unadjusted basis, the jobless rate held steady at 3.6 percent in February.
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