German unemployment holds steady

(Sharecast News) - German unemployment held steady at the start of the year, official data showed on Wednesday, despite the weak economic backdrop. According to the Federal Employment Agency, the seasonally-adjusted jobless rate was 5.8% in January. While it remains the highest since June 2021, the rate was narrowly below forecasts for 5.9%.

Claims fell by 2,000 to 2.294m, the first time in nearly a year than unemployment has not risen on a monthly basis. It was also well below expectations for a 11,000 rise.

Andrea Nahles, chair of the agency, said: "Employment and demand for labour are constant, meaning that the labour is stable at the start of the year despite the ongoing economic weakness."

The update was published alongside the latest employment data from Destatis, the Federal Statistical Office. It showed that, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, roughly 46.0m people were employed in December 2023, up by 23,000 or 0.1% on November.

Destatis noted: "Month-on-month, the number of persons in employment increased in November and October. After seasonally-adjusted declines in August and September, employment therefore showed a positive trend again in the fourth quarter."

Once seasonal adjustments were stripped out, the number of people in employment fell 0.3% month-on-month in December.

Around 1.3m were unemployed last month, up 1% on December 2022. The unemployment rate was 2.9%, or 3.1% once adjusted for seasonal and other irregular effects.

Melanie Debono, senior Europe economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "Joblessness in Germany was stable. Claims fell slightly, in contrast to the trend in recent months, and the increase in unemployment at the end of 2023 was revised down.

"The national claims rate is 0.3 percentage points higher than at the start of 20223, and survey data point to it rising further over the coming months: manufacturing employment is falling steadily, and the PMIs indicate that the job market in services in now losing steam too."