German joblessness seen easing slightly

5 April 2004

NUREMBERG – Germany’s unadjusted unemployment is believed to have eased by around 120,000 in March to around 4.52 million in an improvement mainly fuelled by better weather, analysts said Monday.

The analysts, in projections coming a day before the Federal Labour Agency in Nurember issues its official jobless figures for March, said the figure would be about 90,000 lower than in March 2003.

But after adjustments made for seasonal factors, the analysts believe that German unemployment may have risen by 10,000 to 20,000 to a level of 4.3 million.

The analysts noted that over the past 10 years, the average drop in unadjusted unemployment in March has been around 150,000, so that the 120,000 falloff would be below average. Last year, however, the March decline was only 97,300.

In February, German joblessness was officially put at 4.641 million.

DPA

Subject: German news