German joblessness is likely to rise in the New Year, the official Institute for Employment Research (IAB) predicted from its Nuremberg headquarters on Monday.
The IAB barometer dropped in December for the fourth month in succession, hitting 99.2, the lowest level since the pandemic.
“The job agencies expect that unemployment will continue to rise at the start of the new year,” IAB researcher Enzo Weber said.
The barometer forecasts changes in employment and seasonal unemployment for the three months ahead. The unemployment component fell a further 0.2 points to a reading of 97.6, indicating a worsening situation.
The employment component fell by 0.3 to 100.8. “The jobs market is split: Industry, construction and temporary work are losing ground, while health, education and transport are gaining,” Weber says.
He notes that employment in small businesses is in decline, but not in larger concerns.
The Federal Employment Agency (BA), the statutory body that manages the job agencies and collates employment statistics, put unemployment in November at 2.77 million, 168,000 up on the year.
“The change since the autumn of 2023 is in the wrong direction,” BA executive board head Andrea Nahles said.