German unemployment steady in August

BERLIN – German unemployment remained unchanged in August as the labour market held steady despite signs of a slowing economy.

The Federal Employment Agency said Thursday the rate remained unchanged at 5% for the fourth consecutive month when adjusted for seasonal variations.

In unadjusted terms the rate ticked up slightly to 5.1% in August from 5% in July, with 2.3 million people registered as unemployed, 44,000 more than the previous month.

Germany’s economy, Europe’s largest, contracted by 0.1% in the April-June period and the country’s central bank, the Bundesbank, said last week it “could decline slightly” again in the summer. A technical recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.