Germany's Unemployment Rate Stable In December At 5.1%; Same As In November 2013 And Down From 5.4% In December 2012

The adjusted unemployment rate in Germany held steady in December over the previous month, while on an annual basis, the number of unemployed in Europe’s largest economy declined by 5.7 percent, data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed on Thursday.

Germany’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in December held steady at the previous month’s revised rate of 5.1 percent, and down from 5.4 percent recorded in December 2012. The number of unemployed was 2.16 million in December, which was a decline of 0.9 percent from November, when there were 2.18 million unemployed people, data showed.

In unadjusted terms, the jobless rate in December was at 4.9 percent, down slightly from 5 percent in November. The total number of unemployed stood at 2.1 million, down by 6.3 percent, or 140,000 people, compared to December 2012.

The number of people who were employed touched 42.03 million in December, up 0.6 percent compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, on a month-on-month basis, there were 32,000 fewer people without jobs in December 2013 compared to the previous month.