German jobless figures released yesterday have shown that seasonally adjusted unemployment rose by 44,000 in March, the third consecutive monthly rise and nearly three times higher than expected.

The unadjusted jobless rate, more closely watched in Germany, fell to 10.9 per cent last month from 11.1 per cent in February, with 93,600 fewer people out of work. But the drop in the headline rate was considerably smaller than usual for this time of year, when seasonal hiring in the agriculture and tourism sectors normally starts to pick up.

"The labour market situation has worsened against the backdrop of a continued weak economy," said a statement from the Federal Labour Office in Nuremberg.

Mr Wolfgang Clement, the economics and labour minister, said the figures showed "how much the employment market is trailing the still too-weak economy" and vowed to continue the implementation of the government's reform programme, known as Agenda 2010.

The government is sticking by its 1.5-2 per cent growth prediction in 2004, a return to growth after three years of economic stagnation. But leading economists are more cautious, with some revising downward their forecasts and others warning that any future economic growth will not have a positive effect on employment before the second half of this year at the earliest.

Thanks to changes this year in the method of calculating the unemployed rate - excluding people on training courses - last month's unemployment figure just avoided being the highest March unemployment rate since German unification in 1990.

The poor employment data will not make it any easier for Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to implement unpopular reforms.