The number of people out of work in Germany rose in December but by less than expected, labour office figures showed on Wednesday, ending a year of sluggish job market recovery in Europe's largest economy.
The office said the number of unemployed grew by 3,000 in seasonally adjusted terms from the previous month. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a rise of 5,000.
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate remained stable at 6.3%.
"The labour market continues to lack economic momentum," said labour office head Andrea Nahles. "The weak trend is therefore continuing at the end of the year."
Germany ended 2025 with 2.9 million people out of work, close to the three million mark which was topped for the first time in a decade in August.
Over the last four years, German unemployment has increased by some 500,000 people, said Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING.
"This gradual worsening reflects textbook economics: with the economy effectively stagnating for more than five years and industry facing severe structural challenges, a deterioration in the labour market was inevitable," Brzeski said.
Germany has been struggling with a persistently weak economy. There were 619,000 job openings registered with the labour office in December, 35,000 fewer than a year ago.
The unemployment rate in 2025 was 6.3%, up from 6.0% in 2024.
"The gradual deterioration of the German labour market is likely to persist, clearly complicating any recovery of private consumption in 2026," Brzeski said.
(Reporting by Maria Martinez; editing by Matthias Williams, Kirsten Donovan)
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