German Employment Rises

While unemployment in Germany looks set to rise this winter, the annual average number of people actually in work in the euro zone's biggest economy rose for the first time in three years last year, provisional data showed on Monday. The number of people with a job in Germany averaged 38.4 million in 2004, 128,000 or 0.3 percent more than in 2003, the federal statistics office, Destatis, calculated. It was the first time since 2001 that the number had increased. The employment total fell by 1 percent and 0.6 percent respectively in 2003 and 2002, the office said in a statement. "The development was favorably influenced by the labour market reforms," the statisticians said. While jobs continued to disappear in the key manufacturing and construction sectors, new jobs were created primarily in the services sector, Destatis found.