German unemployment rose less than expected in December, despite the eurozone debt crisis undercutting growth in Europe's biggest economy, data released Thursday by the labour office showed.
The labour office said the seasonally-adjusted number of people out of work rose by 3,000 - the ninth consecutive monthly increase.
This led to job queues across the country swelling to 2.942 million as 2012 came to an end. The headline jobless rate was unchanged at 6.9 per cent.
Analysts had forecast an increase of 10,000 after the number of those out of work rose by 5,000 in November.
"The labour market was in robust shape at the end of the year despite the economic downturn," said labour office chief Frank-Juergen Weise. "But the traces (of the downturn) are visible."
In seasonally-unadjusted terms, the numbers out of work jumped by 88,000 to 2.84 million in December. This was 60,000 higher than in the same month in 2011.
As a result, the monthly unadjusted jobless rate rose to 6.7 per cent in December, from 6.5 per cent in November.
The average number of people out of work in 2012 stood at 2.897 million, or 79,000 less than in 2011.
The unemployment rate for the whole of 2012 came in at 6.8 per cent, compared with 7.1 per cent in the previous year, the labour office said.