The weakening economy slowed down the spring revival on Germany’s labor market. The unemployment rate stagnated at 5.7 percent in April. Compared to the same month last year, the number of unemployed rose significantly.
The number of unemployed in Germany fell only slightly to 2.586 million in April due to a clearly slowed down spring economic upturn. That’s 8,000 fewer than in March, but 276,000 more than in April 2022, according to the Federal Employment Agency. The unemployment rate stagnated and was unchanged at 5.7 percent in April.
“The spring revival on the labor market will remain weak in April. One of the reasons for this is the sluggish economy. Overall, however, the labor market is in stable condition,” said Andrea Nahles, Chairwoman of the Federal Employment Agency. For its statistics, the Federal Agency used figures that were available up to April 13th. Last year, the number of unemployed fell by 53,000 in April compared to the previous month.
Short-time work has increased
The Federal Agency attributed the significant increase compared to the previous year in part to the inclusion of Ukraine refugees in the statistics. “Even without taking Ukrainian refugees into account, unemployment would have risen compared to the previous year, but less so,” the authority said.
According to the latest data from the Federal Agency, short-time work has increased again. From April 1st to 24th inclusive, companies announced short-time work for 36,000 people – but it is not yet clear whether it will actually be used. Current data on actual utilization is available up to February 2023. According to this, short-time work benefits were paid for 162,000 employees this month, a slight increase compared to January.
Increased number of employed
According to the BA, the number of people in work rose by 56,000 in March compared to February. Compared to March 2022, the number increased by 449,000 people. A total of 45.72 million people were employed in Germany in March.