German jobless rate ticks up to 4.9% in December

Germany's unemployment rate ticked up to 4.9% in December as labor market in Europe's biggest ecomy showed some signs of ecomic weakness, though it remained generally robust.

Federal Labor ncy said Friday that unjusted jobless rate, heline figure in Germany, was up from 4.8% in vember.

In all, 2.227 million people were registered as unemployed. That was 47,000 more than previous month and 18,000 more than a year earlier.

seasonally justed rate remained at 5%, where it has stood for months.

ecomy narrowly avoided a widely anticipated recession in third quarter. It grew 0.1% in July-September period compared with previous quarter, when it contracted by 0.2%. Strong domestic spending helped spark modest growth.

Germany's central bank has said that output likely remained flat in fourth quarter.