By Maria Martinez
BERLIN (Reuters) -German unemployment rose less than expected in May, showing resilience in the labour market despite difficult economic conditions, labour office figures showed on Wednesday.
The Federal Labour Office said the number of people out of work increased by 9,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.573 million. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected that figure to rise by 15,000.
"The increase in claims in May marks the fourth straight rise, but it was also the slowest in three months, suggesting the rising trend in these figures has slowed," said Melanie Debono, senior Europe economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate remained stable at 5.6%.
"Despite a weak economy, the labour market is steady overall," said Daniel Terzenbach, head of the regions at the Labour Office.
Debono expects the unemployment rate in Germany to hold broadly steady over the coming months.
Compared with May 2022, the number of unemployed is 284,000 higher. Even without taking into account Ukrainian refugees, unemployment would have risen year-on-year, albeit less sharply, the labour office said.
In May, there were 767,000 job openings, 98,000 fewer than a year ago. Although the Federal Labour Office has seen a slowdown in labour demand in the last year, it remains at a high level.