The number of people in employment has fallen for the first time in ten months.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin In May, the number of people in employment, adjusted for seasonal fluctuations, fell by 4,000 compared to the previous month, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Friday. This is the first decline in ten months.
In April there was still an increase of 14,000, in February and March even of 55,000 each. The German economy has recently shrunk for two quarters in a row and is therefore in a recession. Leading economic research institutes also expect gross domestic product to shrink overall in 2023. A total of around 45.7 million people resident in Germany were employed in May.
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According to the Federal Employment Agency (BA), the demand for labor in companies has been falling steadily for a year now: the seasonally adjusted job index fell by three points to 119 points in June, after having reached a high of 139 points in May 2022 the BA determined.
The Ifo Institute came to a similar conclusion in its survey of 9,000 companies. The employment barometer calculated from this for the economy as a whole rose in June, but only slightly by 0.2 to 98.4 points, as the Munich researchers found out. “But particularly in industry, the burgeoning pessimism is reflected in cautious personnel planning,” said Klaus Wohlrabe, head of the Ifo surveys. “Only the service providers are still thinking about new hires.”
Overall, the labor market is likely to remain comparatively robust. The number of unemployed will rise by around 130,000 to 2.55 million this year, but will then fall again to 2.45 million in 2024, according to Ifo researchers, for example. At the same time, the number of people in work is likely to increase sharply and reach a record level of 46.07 million in the coming year.
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