German unemployment last month fell more than economists expected, pushing the jobless rate to a fresh record low.
The number of people out of work declined by a seasonally adjusted 13,000 to 2.662 million last month, data from the Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg showed yesterday.
Economists in a Bloomberg survey forecast a drop of 1,000.
The jobless rate dropped to 6 percent, the lowest level since the country’s reunification.
Measures of manufacturing and business confidence suggest Europe’s largest economy is poised to pick up toward the end of the year after uncertainty over the UK’s vote to leave the EU and weakening global demand caused a temporary slowdown in the third quarter.
The Bundesbank last month said that underlying momentum was “still quite strong.”
“That number tends to be very volatile, but the trend is important,” said Jens Kramer, an economist at Nord LB in Hannover. “It shows that unemployment is steadily decreasing, while employment is growing, which is a very favorable development for domestic demand and the German economic cycle.”
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg said the German economy likely expanded 0.3 percent in the third quarter, after 0.4 percent in the previous three months.
GDP data are due on Nov. 15.
Germany’s central bank has pointed to export and business expectations in manufacturing as signs that the situation could improve in the coming month.
Manufacturing grew at the fastest pace in almost three years last month, according to final data published by IHS Markit yesterday, as companies boosted hiring, partially in response to stronger foreign demand from the US and Asia.
“The labor market developed well in October,” Federal Labor Agency President Frank-Juergen Weise said in a statement.
“Unemployment fell markedly during the autumn revival, employment increased again and demand for new workers continued to rise,” Weise said.
The number of people out of work fell by about 6,000 in western Germany and decreased by about 8,000 in the eastern part of the country, the labor agency said.
At the same time, underemployment rose by a seasonally adjusted 11,000 nationwide due to a loosening of labor policies to target refugees, the report said.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI