"In July, unemployment and underemployment rose more sharply than usual at this time of the year, but this is because of the inclusion of Ukrainian refugees. All in all, the labour market remains stable, though, despite all burdens and uncertainty," commented Daniel Terzenbach, Federal Employment Agency (BA) Board Spokesman for the regions, on the occasion of today's monthly press conference in Nuremberg.

Unemployment figures in July: 
+107,000 to 2,470,000

Unemployment figures compared with previous year: 
-120,000

Unemployment figures compared with previous month: 
+0.2 percent to 5.4 percent

Employment, underemployment and redundancies

The start of the summer break, and the comprehensive registration of Ukrainian refugees led in July 2022 to a further sharp rise in unemployment compared with the previous month of 107,000 to 2,470,000. Seasonally adjusted, the unemployment figure increased by 48,000. The unusually high rise in unemployment this month was not the result of labour market difficulties, but was due to the migration of refugees in connection with the Russian war of aggression. Compared with July of last year, there were 120,000 fewer unemployed persons. From June to July, the unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percent to 5.4 percent, and was thus 0.2 percent lower than in July of last year. In June, the unemployment rate determined by the Federal Statistical Office according to the ILO's labour concept was 3.0 percent.

Seasonally adjusted, the number of underemployed persons, when taking into account changes in labour market policies and short-term incapacity for work, rose in comparison with the previous month by 63,000. In July 2022, the figure was 3,217,000, 126,000 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 25 July inclusively, cyclical short-term announcements were made for 36,000 persons.

Current figures on actual use of the measures are available up until May 2022. According to preliminarily extrapolated BA figures, cyclical short-term allowances were granted to 328,000 employees this month, showing a further drop in short time claims.

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 24,000 in June 2022 compared with the previous month. At 45.57 million persons, the figure was 610,000 higher than in the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, there was an increase in jobs subject to social security contributions from April to May 2022 of 45,000. Compared with the previous year, the number rose in May by 681,000 to 34.43 million, according to BA projections. In May 2022, there were 7.29 million marginally employed persons, 282,000 more than in the month before. Of these, 4.12 million were exclusively in marginal employment, and 3.17 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 July, the demand for new staff remained very high but recently decreased slightly. 881,000 jobs were registered at the BA, an increase of 136,000 on the previous year. After seasonal adjustments, the number of jobs registered at the BA fell by 11,000 compared to the previous month. The BA Job Index (BA‑X), an indicator of demand for manpower in Germany, fell in June 2022 by 2 percent to 134 percentage points.

Underemployment and care benefits

In July 2022, 708,000 persons received unemployment benefits, 112,000 fewer than the year before. In July, the number of employable beneficiaries receiving basic provision for jobseekers (SGB II) was 3,780,000. Compared with July 2021, this was a decrease of 29,000 persons. This shows that in Germany, 7.0 percent of the employable population was dependent on aid.

Labour market

From October 2021 to July 2022, 392,000 applicants registered for training positions at the employment agencies and jobcenters, 12,000 fewer than the year before. Of these young persons, 118,000 had found neither an apprenticeship nor an alternative in July. At the same time, 512,000 training positions were available, 22,000 more than in the previous year. 233,000 of these were still unoccupied. In July, however, the labour market was still buoyant, so that these figures only provide an interim forecast in the year under review.