Germany jobless rate exceeds forecasts, rises in September

Germany’s jobless rate has unexpectedly risen by 25,000 people in September, surprising forecasters who had predicted a drop in unemployment level.

According to the report released by the German Federal Labor Office on Tuesday, the country’s unemployment level rose by 25,000 in seasonally adjusted terms last month, following a 9,000 rise in the previous month. This is while economists initially expected a drop of 5,000 claims.

The unemployment rate edged up to 6.9 percent in September from 6.8 percent in August in seasonally-adjusted terms.

This comes while the unadjusted figures showed that 2.85 million people were out of work.

The agency attributed the rise “to less relief from labor market policy measures.”