Germany: unemployment rate remains stable at 6.4% in September

The unemployment rate in Germany remained stable in September, at 6.4%, while the seasonal recovery expected in the fall remained sluggish, the Federal Employment Agency said on Wednesday. In raw data, less representative but much commented on in the public debate, the number of unemployed fell by 67,000 people over one month, falling below the three million mark, which had been crossed in July. In seasonally adjusted data (CVS), the number of unemployed people increased by 12,000 over one month.

“In September, the job market usually benefits from a seasonal increase in activity in the fall. But this year, the start remains sluggish,” declared the president of the German Federal Employment Agency, Andrea Nahles, to the press. Overall, the labor market is currently continuing the trend observed in recent months. “The improvement in the economic situation, highlighted by recent data on GDP growth, is not yet reflected in the job market,” she explained.

A few days before German Unity Day, October 3, the Federal Employment Agency highlights the gradual rapprochement of the labor markets of East and West. “For a long time now, the highest unemployment rates have no longer been found in the states of the former GDR, but in North Rhine-Westphalia (west),” noted Andrea Nahles. This region had an unemployment rate of 7.9% in September, with more than 15% in Gelsenkirchen, a former mining stronghold in difficulty.