The number of people looking for work in Germany surged to 4.225 million or 10.1 per cent of the working population in December, the Federal Labour Office said today.
In seasonally unadjusted terms, the numbers claiming dole rose by 199,300 in December from November and increased by 261,600 from December 2001, the office said.
In November, the jobless total was 4.026 million, equivalent to a jobless rate of 9.7 per cent.
Unemployment usually increases during the winter months for seasonal reasons, as companies, particularly in sectors such as the construction industry, lay off employees due to bad weather.
A regional breakdown of the data showed the seasonally adjusted jobless total rose by 20,000 in the economically more important west of the country, while the number of job-seekers in the former communist east rose by 8,000.
In eastern Germany, the unadjusted total rose to 1.446 million from 1.376 million and the rate jumped to 18.4 per cent from 17.6 per cent.
AFP