Germany’s unemployment rate rose in January to nearly 8%, according to the country’s Federal Labour Office.

The number of unemployed in January rose 331,000 on the previous month to 3.4m, pushing the unemployment rate up 0.7 percentage points to 7.9%.

However, when adjusted for seasonal variations, the unemployment rate fell to 7.4% from 7.5% the month before, its lowest rate since 1990.