German official unemployment shows surprise drop in January
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In this file photo taken on Dec 20, 2012, a homeless man begs for money at Alexanderplatz square in Berlin. The German economy remains surprisingly resilient to the eurozone debt crisis, with unemployment in Europe's top economy falling again this month, official data showed on Thursday, Jan 31, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
FRANKFURT (AFP) - The German economy remains surprisingly resilient to the eurozone debt crisis, with unemployment in Europe's top economy falling again this month, official data showed on Thursday.
Unemployment rose sharply in January, with the jobless rate jumping to 7.4 per cent in raw or unadjusted terms from 6.7 per cent in December, according to monthly data compiled by the Federal Labour Office.
And the unadjusted jobless total was up by more than 298,000 to 3.138 million.
But the increase was solely due to seasonal factors, such as the cold winter weather and the underlying trend remained positive, agency chief Frank-Juergen Weise insisted.
