BERLIN, April 29 Reuters German unemployment rose unexpectedly in April and companies put more staff on shorter working hours in subsidized job protection schemes, data showed on Thursday, in a further pandemicrelated setback for a fragile recovery in Europes largest economy.

The Labour Office said the number of people out of work increased by 9,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.760 million. A Reuters poll had forecast a fall of 10,000.

The number of employees put on shorttime work schemes increased to 3.27 million in February from 2.9 million in January, the office added.

Reporting by Michael Nienaber, editing by Kirsti Knolle

Source Reuters