Status: 03/01/2023 10:18 a.m
In February, 2.62 million people were registered as unemployed – 4,000 more than in January. The unemployment rate remained unchanged. According to the assessment of the Federal Employment Agency, the job market is stable.
The number of unemployed in Germany remained almost unchanged in the past month. The Federal Employment Agency (BA) recorded an increase of 4,000 to 2.62 million between January and February, as the authority in Nuremberg announced. However, the number of unemployed was around 192,000 higher than in February last year. According to the BA, this increase is mainly due to the fact that unemployed refugees from Ukraine are settled at the job centers.
“Overall, the job market was stable despite the tense economic situation,” said BA boss Andrea Nahles, looking at developments in the past month. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.7 percent in February.
In January, the number of unemployed in Germany rose, as is usual for the season. In the first month of the year, 2.616 million people were without a job, 162,000 more than in December and 154,000 more than in January 2022.
Optimistic view of the future
Despite economic uncertainties, employment agencies are currently looking to the future with optimism. According to the labor market barometer of the Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research, they expect unemployment to fall in the coming months – mainly because the Ukrainian refugees will be able to take up employment after completing the integration courses.
According to the Munich Ifo Institute, the number of people on short-time work also indicates a positive development: According to its estimates, this has increased only slightly since the beginning of the year. The experts take this as an indication that the German economy is coming through the energy price crisis better than feared last year.
number of employed persons
A similar picture emerges when looking at the number of employed persons residing in Germany, which the Federal Statistical Office presented for January. Accordingly, adjusted for seasonal distortions, it increased by 72,000 or 0.2 percent compared to the previous month. In December it was only enough for a minimal increase of 0.1 percent or 28,000 people.
Not seasonally adjusted, the number of people in employment fell in January – as is usual at this time of year – by 244,000 or 0.5 percent compared to the previous month. However, this decline was less severe than the January average of the three pre-crisis years 2017 to 2019, which was 311,000. Compared to January 2022, the number of people in employment even increased by 1.0 percent.
The increase remained at the same level as in the previous month. “The upward trend on the labor market continued unchanged compared to the previous year,” the statisticians summarized the results.