"All in all, the labour market has remained stable. It's true that in June, the unemployment and underemployment figures have risen sharply, but the reason for these increases is that the Ukrainian refugees have now also been registered at the jobcenters and now appear in the labour market statistics," commented Detlef Scheele, Chairman of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), on the occasion of today's monthly press conference in Hamburg.

Unemployment figures in June: 
+103,000 to 2,363,000

Unemployment figures compared with previous year: 
-251,000

Unemployment figures compared with previous month: 
+0,3 percent to5.2 percent

Employment, underemployment and redundancies

Due to the comprehensive registration of Ukrainian refugees at the jobcenters, the number of people out of work rose sharply in June 2022 by 103,000 to 2,363,000. Seasonally adjusted, this meant an increase in unemployment of 133,000. Compared with June of last year, the figure fell by 251,000. From May to June, the unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percent to 5.2 percent, and was thus 0.5 percent lower than in the same month last year. In May, the unemployment rate determined by the Federal Statistical Office according to the ILO's labour concept was 2.7 percent.

Seasonally adjusted, the number of underemployed, which is also taking into account changes in labour market policies and short-term incapacity for work, rose in comparison with the previous month by 124,000. In June 2022, the figure was 3,115,000, 261,000 fewer than a year ago.

Short time

Before the start of short-time work, plants must announce their decision concerning expected work losses. According to current data on examined announcements, from 1 to 26 June inclusively, cyclical short-term announcements were made for 35,000 persons.

Current figures on actual use of the measures are available up until April 2022. According to preliminarily extrapolated BA figures, cyclical short-term allowances were granted to 401,000 employees this month, showing a drop both in claims and in the number of persons last reported to be working short time.

Employment and jobs

Employment and jobs subject to social security contributions are still on the increase. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the number of employed persons (according to the domestic concept) rose, seasonally adjusted, by 35,000 in May 2022 compared with the previous month. At 45.50 million persons, the number was 772,000 higher than in the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, there was an increase in jobs subject to social security contributions from March to April 2022 of 11,000. Compared with the previous year, the number rose in April by 672,000 to 34.36 million, according to BA predictions. In April 2022, there were 7.21 million marginally employed persons, 274,000 more than in the month before. Of these, 4.08 million were exclusively in marginal employment, and 3.14 million were part-time low earners. The increase on the previous year is very much due to the part-time marginally employed.

Labour demand

In June, the demand for new staff remained very high. 877,000 jobs were registered at the BA, an increase of 184,000 on the previous year. After seasonal adjustments, the number of jobs registered at the BA fell by 1,000. The BA Job Index (BA‑X), an indicator of demand for manpower in Germany, fell in June 2022 by 2 percent to 137 points.

Underemployment and care benefits

In June 2022, 681,000 persons received unemployment benefits, 146,000 fewer than the year before. In June, the number of employable beneficiaries receiving basic provision for jobseekers (SGB II) was 3,691,000. Compared with June 2021, this was a decrease of 174,000 persons. This shows that in Germany, 6.8 percent of the employable population was dependent on aid.

Labour market

From October 2021 to May 2022, 376,000 applicants registered for training positions at the employment agencies and jobcenters, 9,000 fewer than the year before. Of these young persons, 148,000 had found neither an apprenticeship nor an alternative. At the same time, 499,000 training positions were available, 26,000 more than in the previous year. 259,000 of these were still unoccupied. In June, however, the labour market was still buoyant, so that figures only provide an interim forecast in the year under review.