Many weather-dependent industries dismiss employees during the winter. In 2018, the number of unemployed persons increased again in December. For the year as a whole, however, the Federal Agency reports a positive record.
Nuremberg (dpa) – The number of unemployed in Germany in December has fallen to the lowest monthly value since 1991. Thus, in the last month of 2018, around 2,210 million people were jobless, as the Federal Employment Agency (BA) announced on Friday in Nuremberg .
Compared with the previous month, this was more than 23,000 job seekers, more than in November, mainly due to the weather. Compared to the previous year, however, the number of unemployed fell by 175,000. The unemployment rate increased by 0.1 points to 4.9 per cent between November and December.
For the full year 2018, an average of 2.340 million people were unemployed – the lowest number since the German reunification. The number of job seekers decreased by 193,000 compared to the previous year. The average unemployment rate fell by 0.5 points to 5.2 percent, as the BA further announced.
The increase in the number of unemployed in December was attributed by the Federal Agency to winter alone. BA CEO Detlef Scheele spoke of a very good development: “This is also due to the positive economic development,” he said. “Particularly pleasing are the decline in long-term unemployment and the progress of labor market integration of refugees.”
Seasonally adjusted, the number of job seekers fell. Adjusted for seasonal influences, the number of unemployed stood at 2.261 million in December. Thus, about 14,000 men and women were less jobless than in November – in the west, the number fell by 9000, in the East by well over 5000.
According to projections of the Federal Statistical Office in November, the number of employed persons was 45.22 million – 34,000 more than in the previous month. Compared to the previous year, there were 483,000 more in employment.
The increase is predominantly due to more employment subject to social insurance contributions, according to the Federal Agency. According to calculations by the BA, this increased by a seasonally adjusted 68,000 from September to October. This meant that 33.47 million people in Germany had a regular job last year – 696,000 more than a year earlier.