German manufacturers added 180,400 jobs over the year to the end of November, a rise of 3.6 percent, as job market growth in Europe's largest economy continued unabated despite signs of slowing elsewhere, the Federal Statistics Office said on Monday. The German economy, a star performer in the industrialised world since the end of the 2008 financial crisis, grew 3.0 percent in 2011 but shrank in the last three months of the year. Economists expect growth to slow to 0.5 to 1.0 percent in 2012.
The statistics office said companies added jobs because their business had grown strongly in 2011, with sales rising 7.9 percent in the January to November period. Jobs growth was especially strong in the metal and electronic equipment sectors. There was comparatively little growth in the food and beverage industry, where job numbers rose 1.9 percent in the year. Overall, the number of hours worked grew by 3.1 percent in the year to November while wages increased 6.6 percent.
German unemployment fell more than expected in December, with the jobless rate falling to 6.8 percent - the lowest level since German unification two decades ago - from 6.9 percent in November. The Labour Office said the number of unemployed was on average 2.976 million in 2011, the lowest level in 20 years, while the jobless rate panned out at 7.1 percent.