German unemployment falls in November

German unemployment unexpectedly fell in November, official data showed Tuesday, but restrictions to curb the second coronavirus wave caused a jump in the number of people on short-time work.

According to the BA federal labor agency, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate in Europe's top economy ticked down to 6.1 percent last month from 6.2 percent in October.

Analysts surveyed by Factset had expected the unemployment rate to climb slightly to 6.3 percent in November.
However, the BA data also showed that another 537,000 people were placed on short-time employment between November 1 and 25, joining millions of others.

"The labor market reacted to the restrictions in November -- but fortunately not with an increase in redundancies at the moment," BA chairman Detlef Scheele said in a statement.

The November numbers "suggest that the German labor market could go through the crisis almost unharmed," said ING bank analyst Carsten Brzeski.

"But the rising number of short-time workers, as well as the longer-term impact from the second lockdown, clearly argue against too much optimism."

The current virus curbs are expected to last into the new year, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said.