Germany unemployed just short of 3 million-mark

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The number of unemployed people in Germany rose by 65,000 from June to July, making a total of 2.979 million people out of work, government data showed on Thursday.

Compared to July last year, that is 171,000 more unemployed people, the Federal Employment Agency in Nuremberg said.

The unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage points compared to June, to 6.3%.

The rate is highest in the city states of Bremen (11.8%) and Berlin (10.3%), and lowest in the southern states of Bavaria (4.0%) and Baden-Württemberg.

Labour market experts expect the total number of unemployed to rise above 3 million in August, as it last did in February 2015.

"Unemployment has risen due to the start of the summer break. Companies remain cautious about reporting new jobs, and employment subject to social insurance contributions is hardly increasing at all," said Andrea Nahles, the head of the Federal Employment Agency.

The agency reported that there were 628,000 job vacancies in July - 75,000 fewer than a year ago.

A total of 991,000 people received unemployment benefit in July, while 3.877 million people were entitled to receive top-up welfare payments because their earnings were not sufficient to cover their living expenses.