German joblessness unexpectedly rose in October. It was up for a third month running, prompting the question is this a trend or just a blip?

Adjusted for season factors the total was the highest since June 2011.

However the overall unemployment rate remains close to its lowest since reunification more than two decades ago.

The number of people out of work was up by just 2,000 to 2.973 million.

September’s increase was revised up to 24,000.

Economists surveyed by news organisations had expected no change.

The jobless rate held steady at 6.9 percent, also seasonally adjusted.

Frank-Jürgen Weise, the head of the German Federal Labour Agency, said: “With this new data the tendency of the past months continues. The Labour market is, all in all, in fairly good shape, and we expect stable development also for the coming months.”

He did note that the usual autumn revival in the jobs market was weaker than expected and said it lacked dynamism.

However, data from the Statistics Office showed the number of people in work in Germany rising above 42 million for the first time since the country’s East and West reunified in 1990. That is out of a population of 81 million.

Domestic demand is propping up growth as exports weaken due to the eurozone crisis and a slowdown in emerging economies.