German unemployment rose for a fourth straight month in May but by less than economists expected, data due to be released today will show.
A source in the Federal Labour Office said unemployment adjusted for seasonal factors rose 9,000 to 4.374 million, the slowest monthly increase this year, leaving the adjusted jobless rate unchanged at 10.5 per cent.
Unemployment in west Germany adjusted for seasonal factors rose 9,000, while the jobless total in east Germany was unchanged, the source said.
The source said the Office would report unemployment on an unadjusted basis fell 150,200 month on month to 4.293 million, reducing the unadjusted jobless rate to 10.3 per cent from 10.7 per cent.
Germany's unemployment rate harmonised to compare with that of other European Union countries was unchanged at 9.8 per cent, the source added.
The data will be bad news for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder whose embattled Social Democrats have sought to shift attention to foreign policy from domestic woes ahead of Sunday's European and regional elections.
Germany's economy grew by 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2004, its strongest quarter-on-quarter growth in three years, but growth was almost entirely due to exports.