Germany's unemployment figure has risen above three million for the first time in more than a decade, according to the Federal Employment Agency (BA). The increase raises the stakes for the centrist coalition government's huge investment plans to deliver quick results. "This will be the focus of the federal government," Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on the sidelines of Franco-German ministerial talks in Toulon in southern France on Friday. The increase in unemployment, he added, was not unexpected. How do the figures stack up? The number climbed in August by 46,000 to 3.025 million. The unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage points to 6.4%. The seasonally adjusted trend was slightly better than feared in August, showing an actual fall by 9,000 in August compared with July — defying forecasts of a 10,000 rise. Compared with August last year, however, joblessness was still up by 153,000. However, labor demand is slowing. There were 631,000 job openings in August — 68,000 fewer than a year