–Adds comments from Labor Agency Head Weise to story sent at 8:06 GMT

SA Unemployment: -40k (pan-German), -33k (West), -7k (East)

MNI survey median: -15,000 m/m
MNI survey range: -50,000 to -10,000 m/m
—

FRANKFURT (MNI) – The number of individuals actively searching for
work in Germany continued to decline in September, beating general
expectations, the German Labour Ministry reported on Thursday.

In the month since August, the ranks of the unemployed contracted
by 40,000, bringing the total number of seasonally adjusted unemployed
to 3.146 million and trimming the jobless rate to 7.5% from 7.6%
previously. Expectations had been for no change in the unemployment
rate.

In non-seasonally adjusted terms, the fall in the unemployment rate
was more pronounced, bringing the figure down 0.4 percentage point to
7.2%, with the number of individuals searching for work contracting by
157,000 to 3.031 million.

Payroll jobs, which lag jobless figures by one month, increased by
46,000, adding to July’s +18,000 result, while growth in job vacancies
slowed to +4,000 in September from +5,000 in August.

A number of forward-looking indicators published recently have
pointed to a positive outlook for the German labour market, suggesting
that the downward trend in unemployment is likely to continue for some
time.

The Ifo institute’s employment barometer released at the end of
August stabilized near multi-year highs, pointing to a favourable
outlook for the labour market.

A separate Ifo survey released later reported that 87% of German
firms hope to take on additional staff over the next year compared to
only 4% who are looking to cut jobs.

The European Commission’s findings in September mirrored Ifo’s. In
the Commission economic sentiment survey released on Wednesday, firms
polled across major sectors had revised upwards their employment
expectations. The upward revision in the retailing sector was especially
strong, with hiring expectations only one point below the series high.

A brighter outlook was also seen on the consumer side, with
households’ employment fears over the next year falling to their lowest
level since June 2008, the Commission added.

Despite slowing growth in output and new orders, staffing levels in
the private sector continued to swell in September, Markit Economics
reported, citing its purchasing managers index (PMI). Firms in both the
service and manufacturing sectors reported additional hirings, boosting
the PMI employment figure to its highest since May 2008.

“[A] further solid rise in employment suggests that manufacturers
are still optimistic that the recovery has further to run,” Markit
economist Tim Moore said.

Earlier today, the Federal Statistical Office reported that
seasonally adjusted employment in Germany had risen by 2,000 on the
month in August to 40.317 million.

Unemployment is expected to fall further, probably dropping below 3
million either in October or November, Labor Agency head Frank-Juergen
Weise told reporters at a press conference in Nuernberg, after the
release of today’s data.

Asked about the unemployment outlook for next year, Weise said that
the Labor Agency had to wait for the latest government forecasts on
economic growth before it could make a projection on the labor market.
Still, “total development [on the labor market] is better than we had
feared,” he said.

— Frankfurt bureau: +49 69 720 142, email: frankfurt@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$G$$$,MAGDS$,M$X$$$,M$XDS$,MT$$$$]