(Reuters) – The number of unemployed people in Germany fell in January, Labour Office figures showed on Wednesday, beating expectations for an increase in the number of jobless.
The Federal Labour Office said the number of people out of work decreased by 2,000 in seasonally adjusted terms compared to December to 2.694 million.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the total to rise by 11,000.
“Employment and demand for labour are constant, meaning that the labour is stable at the start of the year despite the ongoing economic weakness,” said Andrea Nahles, chairwoman of the Federal Employment Agency.
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate remained unchanged at 5.8% in January.
In January, there were 699,000 job openings, 66,000 fewer than a year ago, the Federal Labour Office said.
(Reporting by Halilcan Soran and Tristan Veyet; Editing by Kirsti Knolle)
