German unemployment up slightly on longer winter: data

German unemployment rose slightly in April in seasonally adjusted terms as cold winter weather kept people out of work for longer than usual at this time of year, the Labour Office said on Tuesday.

However, the jobless rate stayed close to a reunification low of 6.9 percent, in line with the consensus in a Reuters poll of 33 economists.

The number of people out of work, adjusted for seasonal swings, increased by 4,000 to 2.938 million, twice the expected rise in a Reuters poll.

"(It) could be to do with longer lasting weather-related limitations this year," the Labour Office said in a statement.

Even though the politically important unadjusted jobless rate has hovered above 3 million for four months in a row now and as euro zone gloom persists, a study by market researchers GfK showed Germans were still upbeat about their job outlook.

Germans are confident their incomes will rise and are willing to buy more, providing much needed support for Europe's largest economy as weakness among trading partners weighs on exports.

(Reporting by Holger Hansen and Annika Breidthardt, editing by Gareth Jones)