As of: January 31, 2024, 2:57 p.m
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A man on the way to the employment office: Unemployment in Germany has risen below average.
© Sebastian Kahnert/dpa
Unemployment in Germany rose below average at the beginning of the year.
The numbers usually rise in the cold months because certain industries simply cannot work.
Nuremberg - Despite the economic downturn, unemployment in Germany did not rise as sharply at the beginning of the year as is usual for the winter break, according to the Federal Employment Agency.
The number of unemployed people increased by 169,000 to 2.805 million from December to January, the BA announced on Wednesday.
“The annual increase in unemployment at the turn of the year is comparatively small this year,” said BA boss Andrea Nahles.
“The labor market is therefore stable at the beginning of the year despite the ongoing economic weakness.” In the years before the corona pandemic, the increase was around 200,000.
Nahles: Only foreigners ensure job growth
In January, 189,000 more people were unemployed than in January 2023. Taking seasonal effects into account, according to the BA, the number of unemployed fell by 2,000 from December to January.
The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points month-on-month to 6.1 percent.
“It is not atypical in the winter that people in outdoor jobs, for example in construction, are sometimes unable to work due to the weather,” said Nahles.
In addition, many employment contracts expired at the end of the year.
Between the years, like during the summer holidays, there are regularly fewer new hires.
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil also spoke of a stable labor market.
The number of almost 700,000 reported vacancies is encouraging, which shows that companies are still looking for staff.
“The high number of employees subject to social security contributions, which was 35.1 million in November, also makes us optimistic,” explained the SPD politician.
“It is clear to see here how dependent we are on immigration into the labor market.” The increase in employment by 217,000 compared to the same month last year can be attributed exclusively to employees from other EU countries and third countries, who are also urgently needed given the existing shortage of skilled workers.
Nahles also presented an analysis of job growth in 2023.
Accordingly, only foreigners ensured that the number of employees continued to rise and reached a good 34.7 million in June 2023.
That was almost 264,000 more than the year before.
According to the BA, the number of employees with a German passport fell by 77,000 people in 2023 for demographic reasons.
(Reuters, lf)