"On the whole, the labour market remains robust, in particular due to continuous growth in employment. However, there are still clear signs of economic uncertainty, as more companies reconsider possible short-time measures and reduce their demand for new staff," said Andrea Nahles, Chairwoman of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), at today's monthly press conference in Nuremberg.

Unemployment figures in October:
-43,000 to 2,442,000

Unemployment figures compared with previous year:
+65,000

Unemployment rate compared to previous month:
-0.1 percent to 5.3 percent

Unemployment, underemployment and redundancies

In October 2022, as a result of the autumn revival, the unemployment figures declined by 43,000 to 2,442,000 compared with the previous month. Seasonally adjusted, the number of unemployed rose by 8,000. Compared with October of last year, the figure increased by 65,000. The unemployment rate decreased from September to October by 0.1 percent to 5.3 percent, and was thus 0.1 percent higher than in the previous month. In September, the unemployment rate determined by the Federal Statistical Office according to the ILO's labour concept was 2.9 percent.
Seasonally adjusted, the number of underemployed, when taking into account unemployment as well as changes in labour market policies and short-term incapacity for work, rose in comparison with the previous month by 29,000 due to increasing participation of Ukrainian refugees in integration courses. In October 2022, there were 3,254,000 underemployed persons, 120,000 more than in the previous year.

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 October inclusively, cyclical short-term announcements were made for 82,000 persons.

Current figures on actual use of the measures are available up until August 2022. According to preliminarily extrapolated BA figures, cyclical short-term allowances were granted to 106,000 employees that month, showing no further decrease in claims.

Employment and jobs

In September, according to the Federal Statistical Office, the number of employed persons (according to the domestic concept), did not change, seasonally adjusted, compared with the previous month. At 45.80 million persons, the number was 448,000 higher than in the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, there was an increase in jobs subject to social security contributions from July to August 2022 of 31,000. Compared with the previous year, the number rose by 573,000 to 34.57 million, according to BA predictions. In August 2022, there were 7.36 million marginally employed persons, 143,000 more than in the month before. Of these, 4.15 million were exclusively in marginal employment, and 3.22 million had a part time job. The increase compared with the year before was due entirely to marginally employed persons in part-time work.

Labour demand

Although the demand for new staff still continued to be relatively high, it slackened considerably in October. 846,000 jobs were registered at the BA, 38,000 more than in the previous year. After seasonal adjustments, the number of jobs registered at the BA fell by 17,000 compared with the previous month. The BA Job Index (BA X), an indicator of demand for manpower in Germany, fell in October 2022 by 3 points to 128 points.

Cash benefits for the unemployed and needy

In October 2022, 684,000 persons received unemployment benefits, 36,000 fewer than the year before. In October, the number of employable beneficiaries receiving basic provision for jobseekers (SGB II) was 3,790,000, an increase of 141,000 compared with October 2021. 7.0 percent of the employable population was dependent on help.

The comprehensive monthly report can be accessed on the Internet at
https://statistik.arbeitsagentur.de. (available in German)