German unemployment fell for a 17th month in November as business optimism improved, underscoring the gulf between Europe’s biggest economy and peripheral nations struggling to cut debt.
The number of people out of work declined a seasonally adjusted 9,000 to 3.14 million, the lowest since December 1992, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said today. Economists forecast a decrease of 20,000, according to the median of 31 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. The adjusted jobless rate remained at 7.5 percent.
Rising payrolls help bolster domestic demand in Europe’s most populous country, lessening German reliance on exports and shoring up slower-growth economies in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. German retailers are enjoying a “dream start” to the Christmas shopping season, the HDE industry federation said yesterday, as the European Union said a bigger-than-expected “spillover” from Germany may be coming to Europe’s aid.
“The German economy stands at the eve of a virtuous circle for domestic demand,” said Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING in Brussels. “Combined with a general-feel-good factor, German consumers seem set to finally spend their way out of the recession during the Christmas shopping season.”
The euro fell against the dollar today on concern that the debt crisis in Ireland will spread to other euro nations. The currency was at $1.2987 as of 10:05 a.m. in London from $1.3125 yesterday.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-30/unemployment-in-germany-declined-to-lowest-level-in-18-years-in-november.html
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