German unemployment rises in January to 6.4%

Unemployment in Germany rose in January, climbing by 0.4 percentage points since December to 6.4%, according to preliminary figures from Germany's Federal Employment Agency released on Friday.

The total number of unemployed people in the country was 187,000 higher than in January 2024, reaching a total of 2.993 million, the agency reported.

The sharp rise in January is typical for the time of year, as many temporary employment contracts end and weather-dependent jobs, such as in construction, are lost at the same time.

A stable trend is then often observed in February, before the first spring recovery can begin in March.

For its January statistics, the agency used data that was available until January 15.

"Unemployment and underemployment increased significantly at the start of the year, as is usual this month," said Andrea Nahles, the chairwoman of the Federal Employment Agency. "Although employment growth is continuing, it is increasingly losing momentum."

Short-time work, where companies reduce hours for workers and tap partial benefits, has recently increased significantly.

According to projections by the Federal Employment Agency, 293,000 employees were paid cyclical short-time working benefits in November, compared to 263,000 in October and 221,000 in September.

More up-to-date data are not reliably available, the agency said.

The demand for labour continued to decline, according to the preliminary figures. In January, 632,000 vacancies were registered with the Federal Employment Agency, 66,000 fewer than a year ago.