Unemployment rises in January to more than three million – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Unemployment rises in January to more than three million – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Little time? At the end of the text’s a summary.

Nuremberg – The number of unemployed in Germany rose in January to 268,000 to 3,032,000. The 104,000 are less than a year ago, as the Federal Employment Agency announced in Nuremberg on Thursday. The unemployment rate rose by 0.6 points to 7.0 percent.

After seasonal adjustment decreased the number of unemployed in Germany in January 9000 to 2,836,000. Economists had expected a decline of 10,000. Adjusted for seasonal influences unemployment figure was in West Germany back to 5000, in the East, they fell by 4000.

The head of the Federal Employment Agency, Frank-Jürgen Weise, said: “The labor market is linked to the good performance of last year . The increase in unemployment in January, mainly seasonal reasons. ” An increase was common during the winter break, the plus fell in January this year, but lower than in recent years.

economic boost expected

Without the year, which came into force minimum wage regulation would be the winter unemployment but probably have been even less stressed labor market experts. “The minimum wage has certainly somewhat dampened the development in January,” Ifo Institute is convinced about Steffen Henzel from Munich. So far, however should mainly low-paying mini jobs will be affected, he believes.

Also Commerzbank economist Achim Tuchtfeld assumes that “the minimum wage will leave marks on the labor market. It seems in some companies already to be carefully calculated. ” He had found in discussions with entrepreneurs.

Because of the low oil prices and the weak euro, which benefits mainly export-oriented companies, most economists expect the year 2015, a somewhat stronger economic boost. “This has everything like a small stimulus package,” says Tuchtfeld. Should benefit from the job market.

demand for labor increases

Meanwhile, the growing economic optimism can climb to a record high, the demand for labor in many companies at the beginning. Never since the beginning of the appropriate records there were more vacant positions in German companies, such as the federal agency announced

The calculated since 2004 monthly job index BA-X has risen to 183 points in January -. The two points more than in December and 18 more than a year ago. Meanwhile, the demand for workers even greater than in the boom year of 2011 as seen from the BA statistics

To summarize:. The winter season does not affect so much on the labor market, as in previous years. But it could all be a lot better if the minimum wage would not.

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