German labour agencies have reported that the labor market continues to develop steadily in July, according to the latest labour market barometer from the Institute for Labour Market and Professional Research (IAB) of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA).

The barometer fell slightly by 0.2 points to 103.9 points compared to the previous month. The decline is due to the weaker levels within the unemployment component, which fell by 0.4 points to 100.8 points in July 2017.

"The employment agencies expect a rather favourable, but more modest development of unemployment", Enzo Weber, head of the IAB research, said. “The integration of refugees in the labour market in the coming months is particularly important.”

For the IAB Labor Market Barometer , the IAB surveys all local employment agencies on a monthly basis regarding their expectations on the number of unemployed in the coming three months as well as the development of employment. In order to get an outlook on the overall development of the labour market, the institute is the average of both components.