Status: 01/31/2023 11:04 am
Around 160,000 more people were registered as unemployed in January than in December. According to the Federal Employment Agency, this is partly due to the time of year and partly to the fact that Ukrainian refugees are being taken into account.
The number of unemployed in Germany rose to 2.616 million in January. That is 162,000 more people without a job than in December and 154,000 more than in January 2022, according to the Federal Employment Agency (BA). The unemployment rate rose by 0.3 points to 5.7 percent compared to the previous month.
The increase is “usual for the season,” said the BA. “The labor market remained stable at the beginning of the year. However, the effects of the geopolitical and economic uncertainties are still evident,” said the Federal Agency’s CEO, Andrea Nahles.
Adjusted for seasonal fluctuations, the number of unemployed fell by 15,000 to 2.498 million, according to the BA. The seasonally adjusted rate remained unchanged at 5.5 percent.
Ukrainian refugees included
The BA also explained the increase in the number of unemployed by the fact that Ukrainian refugees were also included in the labor market statistics. Without taking this into account, the number of unemployed would have fallen compared to January 2022.
At the beginning of the year, the demand for workers had dropped slightly. Overall, however, the need for personnel is stable at a comparatively high level. There were 764,000 jobs registered with the Federal Agency, 27,000 fewer than a year ago. Seasonally adjusted, the number of jobs reported to the agency increased by 2000 compared to the previous month, it said. The cut-off date for the labor market data collected was January 12th.