In July, 684,300 people were employed in Germany’s temporary employment sector subject to social security contributions, down 4.7%, or 34,000, from the same period a year ago, according to data from the German Federal Employment Agency.

When compared to June’s 688,200, the number of people in the temporary employment sector subject to social security contributions decreased by 0.6%, or 3,900.

Meanwhile, further labour market data for September showed that the unemployment rate stood at 5.7% on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, up 0.3% compared to September 2022. When compared to the previous month, the unemployment rate fell by 0.1%.

Seasonally adjusted, the rate was also 5.7% and has not changed compared to August.

Seasonally adjusted, the number of unemployed people increased by 10,000 in September compared to the previous month. Compared to September of last year, the number of unemployed is 141,000 higher.

The number of unemployed persons totalled 2,627,000 in September 2023.

Underemployment, which includes unemployment as well as labour market policy and short-term incapacity for work, rose by 15,000 in seasonally adjusted terms compared to the previous month. In September 2023 it was 3,440,000 people. That was 190,000 more than a year ago. 

“The onset of autumn recovery is comparatively small this year. Unemployment and underemployment are falling, but less than usual in September. “In principle, the German labour market is still stable,” said Daniel Terzenbach, regional director of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), today at the monthly press conference in Nuremberg.

The number of employed people rose by 35,000 in August 2023, seasonally adjusted, compared to the previous month. At 45.99 million people, it was 347,000 higher than the previous year. 

Employment subject to social security contributions rose slightly by 8,000 from June to July 2023, seasonally adjusted. Compared to the previous year, according to BA projections, the number of employees increased by 239,000 to 34.56 million in July, with the increase being due solely to foreigners. 

The Agency noted 7.6 million people had low-paid employment in July 2023, 245,000 more than in the same month of the previous year. Of these, 4.27 million were employed exclusively and 3.33 million were employed in part-time, marginally paid jobs.

In September, 761,000 job vacancies were registered with the BA, 113,000 fewer than a year ago.