BERLIN (Reuters) – German unemployment fell unexpectedly in November despite a partial lockdown to contain a second wave of coronavirus infections in Europe’s largest economy, data showed on Tuesday.
The labour office said the number of people out of work decreased by 39,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.817 million. A Reuters poll had forecast a rise of 8,000.
The unemployment rate edged down to 6.1% from 6.2% in the previous month, the lowest level since April.
The number of people on short-time work schemes, which have shielded the labour market from the brunt of the pandemic, fell to 2.22 million in September. This compared to roughly 2.6 million in the previous month and a peak of nearly 6 million reached in April at the height of the pandemic.
(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Riham Alkousaa)
