Germany in the pandemic: work Agency boss: We thought that it gets worse

The number of unemployed in Germany has risen because of the Corona-crisis in June. As the Federal employment Agency (BA) announced on Wednesday, it rose to 2,853 million and were 637.000 more than a year ago, a development that hardly anyone would have thought at the beginning of the year for possible. One out of every five unemployed people in Germany has lost due to the pandemic and its consequences his work.

Britta Beeger

editor in the economy.

F. A. Z. Twitter

But BA chief Detlef Scheele had to announce in Nuremberg, also some good news. So you have to expect that with the progressive duration of the crisis month by month, more and more people register as unemployed.

Instead, the rise in unemployment in June, flattened significantly. In April, the number of unemployed had increased to 308.000, in may, 169.000, in June there were now 40,000. “At times, we have expected a higher increase,” said Scheele. Now it looked as if it would stabilize unemployment at the beginning of the summer to a flattening level.

The Federal Agency is now contrary to previous assumptions, that the mark of three million unemployed will not be exceeded this summer. He expects we will “see you just from the bottom,” said Scheele. Anyway, it was more a symbolic number, which is more related to the personal fate of individuals than for the economy as a whole is significant. Whether the 3-million mark will be skipped in the further course of the year, was Scheele. “In the Winter, you must see then,” he said. In December, January and February, the unemployment is rising, usually anyway, because then to do the construction, and in restaurants less.

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despite this, the unemployment rate in the coming months. Early indicators such as the labour market barometer of the Institute for labour market and occupational research, for each month, the local employment agencies in Germany are surveyed, and the employment barometer by the Munich-based Ifo Institute indicate that the bottom has been reached in the labour market already.