German Unemployment Ticks Up, Still at Historic low

The number of employed Germans declined slightly in February, but a statistical sleight-of-hand means the unemployment rate held steady at 6.8 percent, the lowest level since Germany's unification in 1991.

The unadjusted unemployment rate was 7.4 percent in February, official German government data showed Wednesday, a jump from the 7.3 percent in January, with 3.11 million people registering as unemployed.

But seasonal adjustments, which take into account how winter slows construction and other activities, revealed the unemployment rate steady at 6.8 percent. That figure is enviable amongst many euro zone economies, where the official unemployment rate is 10.4 percent or the United States, where joblessness stands at 8.3 percent.

Employment should increase at a slower pace in the coming months, in line with an expected economic growth slowdown, Catherine Stephan, an economist covering the German, Austrian and Swiss economies for French bank BNP Paribas wrote in a note.

Employment in Germany has been growing since the end of last year. The German economy created 86,000 jobs in January, according to official government data, even as peripheral European economies were flagging.

Germans hardly feel affected by the euro-zone debt crisis -- the crisis has simply not reached the German labor market, Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING Group in Brussels told Bloomberg.

Looking ahead, all available indicators still point to a further improvement of the German labor market though the job miracle should gradually come to an end, he said.