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More Germans looking for work
BERLIN, Germany -- The number of people out of work in Germany jumped surprisingly last month as Europe's largest economy struggles to recover from its worst slowdown in decades. The jobless level rose by an adjusted 22,000 in October to 4.119 million, the Federal Labour Office said on Thursday. On an unadjusted basis, there were 3.93 million looking for work last month, compared to 3.94 million in September, with the jobless rate edging down to 9.4 percent from 9.5 percent. The adjusted number was above economists' forecasts. The deteriorating job market will put more pressure on the newly re-elected government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, which has been criticised for not doing enough to reform labour laws and encourage employers to start hiring again. The government has announced plans to raise taxes and pension contributions as it attempts to bring its budget deficit in line with levels imposed by the European Union. Industry groups argue these moves will only hurt the job market by adding to the costs of hiring workers. Economist expect unemployment to continue rising unless major structural changes are made to the labour market. "As usual, economic weakness and uncertainty surrounding the government's plans mean there is little hope for improvement on the labour market," Bernd Weidensteiner, an economist at DZ Bank, told Reuters. Weidensteiner said he expected unemployment to rise to 4.4 million early next year. "The jobless total has been helped by rebuilding after the floods in east Germany but this is fading out now, so we could see further rises in the next few months," added Rainer Guntermann, an economist at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Thursday's unemployment numbers come just one day after a survey of German companies showed industrial orders fell 2.5 percent in September from the previous month. "Growth is still too weak to help the labour market. A modest upturn in growth next year won't be enough to revive the jobs markets," Guntermann said.
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