German unemployment lowest in 20 years

The positive development in the labour market continued at the beginning of 2012. As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the number of persons in employment living in Germany totalled 41.06 million in January 2012. This was the first time in any January that the number of persons in employment exceeded the 41 million mark. The number of unemployed was about 2.68 million in January 2012, which was some 230,000 less than in January 2011.

According to provisional results of employment accounts, the number of persons in employment rose by 577,000 or 1.4% in January 2012 on January 2011. The growth rate thus was higher than in December and November 2011 (1.3% each). Compared with December 2011, the number of persons in employment was down by 353,000 or 0.9% in January 2012, which was due to seasonal effects. Seasonal adjustment however, that is, the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, leads to an increase of 93,000 people (+0.2%).

According to results of the labour force survey, the number of unemployed was down 7.9% in January 2012 on January 2011. It declined by 230,000 to 2.68 million. Compared with December 2011, the number of unemployed increased by 340,000 people or 14.5%. When adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects (trend cycle component), the number of unemployed rose by 20,000 to 2.45 million (+0.8%).

The adjusted unemployment rate was 5.8% in January 2012. Thus it declined by 0.7 percentage points on January 2011. Compared with December 2011, it was up by 0.1 percentage points, thus remaining nearly unchanged…

via Federal Statistical Office – January 2012: positive labour market development continues.

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German unemployment lowest in 20 years – The Irish Times 

Germany’s unemployment held at the lowest in more than two decades in February.

The adjusted jobless rate held at 6.8 per cent from January, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labour Agency said today. That’s the lowest since Germany’s reunification more than two decades ago.

The number of people out of work remained at 2.87 million after declining 26,000 in the previous month. Economists forecast a drop of 5,000 this month.

“The economy is proving robust come bad weather or turbulence from the debt crisis,” said Jens Kramer, an economist at NordLB in Hanover, Germany, who forecast an adjusted drop of 19,000.

“Companies are optimistic when they look ahead and this is playing out in the labour market.”…

via German unemployment lowest in 20 years – The Irish Times – Wed, Feb 29, 2012.