FRANKFURT: Unemployment in Germany stagnated in September, as clouds continue to build over Europe's biggest economy, official data showed on Tuesday.
The unemployment rate stood at 6.7 percent in seasonally adjusted terms in September, unchanged from August.
But the number of people registered as unemployed increased by 12,000, the Federal Labour Office said in a statement.
That took analysts by surprise. They had projected a decline of around 2,000.
"The German economy contracted by 0.2 percent in the second quarter. Weak exports and investment could not be offset by stable consumption, which means that the continual growth seen in the preceding four quarters was halted," the labour office said in a statement.
"External economic uncertainty is having an increasing effect, notably the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine," the office continued.
"The signs for the third quarter are also very subdued. On the labour market, however, demand remains solid," it said.
In raw or unadjusted terms, the German jobless total fell by 94,000 to 2.808 million and the unadjusted jobless rate slipped to 6.5 percent from 6.7 percent, the office calculated.
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