The number of unemployed people in Germany rose more than expected in April and surpassed the politically important 3 million mark in seasonally adjusted terms.
The jobless figure rose a seasonally-adjusted 20,000 to 3.006 million, labour office figures showed on Thursday. Analysts and economists had predicted an increase of 4,000 in a Reuters poll.
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate stood at 6.4%, unchanged from the previous month.
"There is still no sign of a turnaround in the labour market," labour office head Andrea Nahles said in a statement. "The spring upturn remains weak in April as well."
In seasonally unadjusted terms, a total of 3.008 million people were unemployed in April, a decrease of 13,000 in the number of people out of work from the previous month.
This is the fourth consecutive month that the absolute number of jobless remained above the 3 million mark in unadjusted terms.
In total, 641,000 job openings were registered with the labour office in April, 5,000 fewer than a year ago.
Labour market data typically react with a lag to geopolitical shocks such as the Iran conflict, as companies often wait before cutting hiring or jobs until the economic fallout becomes clearer.
