Retail sales in Germany increased in 2011, driven by low unemployment and relatively stable growth in Europe's powerhouse and despite falling in December, official data showed today.
Sales grew by between 0.9% in price-adjusted terms for the whole of last year, according to provisional figures by the federal statistics office.
However, it said that December's figure declined by 1.4% compared with November in price, seasonally and calendar-adjusted terms. Analysts had expected an increase of 0.5% for December, which is one of the most important months of the year for retailers.
Separate data published by the HDE retail sector federation showed retail sales rising by 2.4% in nominal terms across the whole of 2011. And the federation predicted a further increase this year, albeit at a slower rate of 1.5%.
"Retail trade remains robust. We're sure it will be possible to raise sales for the third year in a row this year," HDE chief Stefan Genth told a news conference in Berlin.
Analysts were surprised by the decline in retail sales in December alone. "The figures are all the more disappointing as disposable incomes are rising palpably and the labour-market situation is still favourable," they said.
But they added that rising employment and wages should make sure that private consumption stabilises the German economy in 2012.
German unemployment rises again in January
German unemployment rose again in January, as is usual in the winter, but continued to decline in seasonally-adjusted terms, official data showed today.
The German jobless rate, which measures the proportion of people registered as unemployed against the working population as a whole, rose to 7.3% in January from 6.6% in December, according to unadjusted figures published by the Federal Labour Agency in Nuremberg.
In raw terms, the total number of people out of work was up by 301,500 in January from December to stand at 3.082 million, the agency said in a statement.
Unemployment tends to rise in the winter months as sectors such as the construction sector lay off workers due to the cold weather. In addition, the retail sector also lays off temporary workers taken on for the Christmas period.
Nevertheless, seasonally-adjusted numbers actually showed a decrease of 34,000 in the jobless numbers and the seasonally-adjusted jobless rate slipped to 6.7% from 6.8%.
