Corona crisis: unemployment continues to rise

The Corona crisis shows clear traces on the job market. In May, when unemployment normally declined, another 169,000 unemployed were added. Short-time work is higher than ever.

Nuremberg (dpa) - The number of unemployed in Germany rose again in May due to the consequences of the Corona crisis compared to April by 169,000 to 2,813 million people.

The unemployment rate rose by 0.3 points to 6.1 percent, said the Federal Employment Agency in Nuremberg on Wednesday. Compared to May 2019, unemployment even went up by 577,000 people.

Unemployment rose less strongly in May than in April. At the time, more than 300,000 people were unemployed because of the Corona crisis. Normally, the labor market experiences a spring upswing in April and May, and the number of unemployed usually goes down this season due to the season.

In May, companies reported short-time work for another 1.06 million people, the employment agency said. These are added to the previous advertisements for 10.66 million people. Experience has shown that the number of actual short-time workers is significantly lower because companies sometimes make the advertisements as a precaution.

However, according to the Federal Agency's estimates, 2.02 million people took short-time work in March alone - the month when the corona-related lockdown began. This is the highest value ever measured. The previous record came from May 2009, when 1.44 million people took up short-time work in the then financial crisis.

"The labor market is under pressure due to the corona pandemic," said the Federal Agency's CEO Detlef Scheele. "Short-time work has clearly exceeded the level of 2009."