Fourth corona wave and Omikron uncertainty on the one hand – and low unemployment figures on the other: the Bavarian labor market gave an almost strange, because stable picture at the end of 2021. This is based on the latest figures from the Bavarian Regional Directorate of the Employment Agency. Accordingly, the unemployment rate in this country was 2.9 percent in December, as high as in the previous month. A total of 222 857 people were considered unemployed; Seasonally around 6,600 more than in November, but 52,000 less than in the previous year. At that time, hotels and bars were already closed due to Corona, shops and other businesses followed, the unemployment rate rose to 3.6 percent.
In contrast, the regional directorate is now reporting a “positive development”. This is also due to the fact that there were recently more employees subject to social security contributions, namely around 5.83 million in October. More recent figures are not yet available. If you compare this with the pre-Corona October of 2019, there is even an increase of around 53,000 people in employment. The job pool is also back at “pre-crisis level”: Bavaria’s job center listed more than 140,000 vacancies in December. Above all, skilled workers – in industry, trade or healthcare – are in demand.
In the opinion of Labor Minister Carolina Trautner (CSU), the Bavarian labor market has “increasingly recovered from the effects of the corona pandemic in recent months”. For the full year 2021, the unemployment rate is 3.5 percent and thus below the national average of 5.7 percent. Nevertheless, the mood in many areas of the economy remains tense. On the one hand, upswings and downswings only become apparent with a delay in the labor market; On the other hand, the pandemic is not over yet, the new Corona variant Omikron is also considered a lucky bag for entrepreneurs, including possible production downtimes and company closings. Some industries, such as the catering and hotel industry, are already complaining of lost sales. For the Association of Bavarian Economy, the latest labor market data do not reflect the “seriousness of the situation and the mood in the companies”. Many of them are also unsettled by a lack of material and delivery bottlenecks, which is why orders are often left behind.
As is so often the case in these Corona times, it is difficult to make predictions about future developments. The regional directorate assumes that at least short-time work will become more frequent again in the coming months. The situation also remains precarious for people without a vocational qualification: they often find it difficult to find a new job. And the number of long-term unemployed in Bavaria is 8.5 percent above the previous year’s figure. The German Federation of Trade Unions in Bavaria is therefore demanding more commitment from the state government to combat the “solidifying” long-term unemployment and to expand the existing programs for this purpose.