The job market in Germany has shown improvement with employment increasing in December compared to the previous year and demand for new workers also increasing, according to figures from the Federal Employment Agency (BA) and the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

Destatis figures showed that there were 44.6 million people in employment in December 2017, this was 1.5% more than the previous year.

The BA’s figures showed that, when compared to the previous year, 207,000 fewer people were registered as unemployed in December. However, month-to-month figures unemployment increased by 185,000 in December.

Meanwhile, BA’s data also showed that the demand for new employees increased. In January, 736,000 jobs were registered with the BA, 89,000 more than a year ago. Seasonally adjusted, demand has increased by 2,000 month-on-month. 

 “The job market has got off to a good start in the new year. The number of unemployed people has risen in January, but weaker than usual for the season,” Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Employment Agency, Detlef Scheele, said.

Meanwhile, according to the Institute for Employment Research, the labour market barometer improved over the previous month by 0.1 to 105.0 points. The Institute added that for Germany’s labour market development, there are “good prospects in the coming months.”

The increase in the barometer comes from a slight improvement in the outlook for unemployment.

“Employment agencies predict that the strong economy will continue to reduce unemployment significantly,” Enzo Weber, Head of the IAB research area, said. Weber added that the barometer’s employment component fell by 0.1 points over the previous month but is still at 107.3 points.  "The large employment increases would not have been possible without immigration,” Weber added.

For the IAB Labour Market Barometer, the IAB surveys all local employment agencies on a monthly basis regarding their expectations and the number of unemployed in the coming three months as well as the development of employment. The scale of the indicator ranges from 90 points for very bad outlook up to 110 for very good development.