GERMANY — German unemployment fell for a second month in October, but the effects of the financial crisis lingered and it is still too early to expect a turnaround in the economy, the country’s labor ministry said. The unadjusted jobless rate in Europe’s biggest economy was 7.7 percent, down from 8 percent the previous month and below the 8.3 percent in August, the Federal Labor Agency said. The dip in unemployment comes nearly two weeks after the German government raised its growth forecast and predicted that Europe’s biggest economy will expand by 1.2 percent in 2010, up from an earlier prediction of 0.5 percent.

FRANCE — The increase in French jobless lines has been somewhat tempered by government incentives such as exempting payroll taxes for some workers. The unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in September from 7.8 percent in 2008, according to the OECD. It is expected to hit 10 percent by the end of the year.

BRITAIN — Britain’s Office for National Statistics says unemployment in the United Kingdom was 7.9 percent in the three months to August. The rate held although the number of people out of work was 88,000 higher than in the previous three months, the report said. The number of jobless looks on course to pass the three million mark next year as the impact of the recession translates to rising dole queues.

JAPAN — Japan’s unemployment rate fell for the second straight month in September as companies gained more confidence in the stimulus-fueled global recovery but prices continued to tumble, underscoring weak demand at home. The jobless rate stood at a seasonally adjusted 5.3 percent in September, down from 5.5 percent the previous month and a record high of 5.7 percent in July, the government said Friday. The figures suggest job losses in the world’s second-biggest economy are easing as companies gain more confidence that global demand for Japan’s cars, electronics and other mainstay exports is picking up. Japan’s factory output posted its seventh consecutive rise in September.

CHINA — The official urban unemployment rate was 4.3 percent for the three months ended Sept. 30, unchanged from the previous three month period. But the actual level could be more than double that because the government system ignores millions of migrant workers and employees who are furloughed by state companies but not recorded as laid off. As of Sept. 30 there were 9.15 million registered unemployed people in an urban workforce of 210 million. As many as 30 million migrants are believed to have lost jobs in export-oriented factories in late 2008, government officials said.

BRAZIL — The government says the unemployment rate was 8.1 percent in August — virtually unchanged from the previous month. Brazil emerged from recession in the second quarter. Analysts predict the economy will expand slightly in 2009.