German unemployment adjusted for seasonal factors rose by a bigger-than-expected 27,000 in September, a source with knowledge of official data due to be released on Tuesday told Reuters.
The increase, which the source said pushed the adjusted jobless rate up to 10.7 percent from 10.6 percent in August, exceeded the mid-range forecast of economists polled by Reuters for a rise of 10,000.
Joerg Kraemer, an economist at Invesco Asset Management in Frankfurt, said German economic growth was still too weak to prevent companies from shedding workers.
"I expect that seasonally adjusted unemployment will continue to rise until the middle of next year at the least, not least because the economic peak is now supposed to be behind us," he added.
On an unadjusted basis, unemployment fell 89,900 to 4.257 million in September, with the unadjusted jobless rate dropping to 10.3 percent from 10.5, the source said on Monday.
The number of Germans in work edged up in July by 2,000 month-on-month in adjusted terms, the first increase since October 2003, the source added. The employment data lags the jobless numbers by two months.
Kraemer said that the rise in employment mainly reflected a surge in the number of low-paid jobs and did not point to an increase in full-time positions which are liable for social security payments.