German jobless rises slightly more than expected in August

BERLIN Aug 30 (Reuters) - German joblessness rose for a fifth month running in August, gaining a slightly more-than-expected 9,000 in seasonally adjusted terms but remaining close to a post-reunification low.

Data from the Labour Office showed on Thursday the number of people out of a job rose to 2.901 million in August from an upwardly revised 2.892 million in July.

The consensus forecast in a Reuters poll of 31 economists was for joblessness to rise by 8,000.

The unemployment rate held steady at 6.8 percent, unchanged from July.

"The significant labour market indicators as a whole are developing increasingly weakly. Lower German economic growth is showing here," Labour Office head Frank-Juergen Weise said in a statement.