Unemployment falls in March despite first effects of war

Notwithstanding the initial economic impact of the Ukraine war, unemployment in Germany continued to fall thanks to a spring revival. In March, 2.362 million people were without a job, 66,000 fewer than in February and 465,000 fewer than in March 2021, and the unemployment rate fell 0.2 points to 5.1 percent.

"The labor market continues to recover," Daniel Terzenbach, a board member at the Federal Agency, said Thursday in Nuremberg. He said unemployment is falling and employment is rising due to the easing of the Corona policy and the beginning of the spring recovery.

"Consequences of the war in Ukraine are showing up only sporadically in the labor market data at the moment," the agency manager stressed. "However, the dangers posed by a further escalation and, for example, supply stops of fossil raw materials are weighing on further economic development," Terzenbach said.

Short-time working in Germany has been largely stable so far. Between March 1 and 27, companies had applied for cyclical short-time work for 113,000 people. For February, the Federal Agency had reported notifications for around 200,000 people. Normally, fewer people apply for short-time work than have applied for it.

Data on the actual use of short-time work is available from the Federal Agency up to January. At that time, cyclical short-time working benefits were paid to 654,000 employees. For December 2021, the Federal Agency previously assumed payments for 614,000 people.

Photo by Eric Prouzet