German unemployment rises more than expected in June

German unemployment rose more than expected in June, showing that difficult economic conditions are taking their toll in the jobs market, official figures showed on Thursday.

The Federal Labour Office said the number of people out of work increased by 28,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.61 million. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the figure to rise by 13,000.

“The more difficult economic conditions are now also being felt in the labour market,” labour office head Andrea Nahles said. “Unemployment is rising and employment growth is losing momentum.”

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose to 5.7% from 5.6% in the previous month.

The number of unemployed is 192,000 higher than in June 2022. Even without taking into account Ukrainian refugees, unemployment would have risen year-on-year, the labour office said.

In June, there were 769,000 job openings, 108,000 fewer than a year ago. Although the Federal Labour Office has seen a slowdown in labour demand in the last year, it remains at a high level.

Economists say the number of unemployed people will rise slightly in 2023, but the unemployment rate will remain broadly unchanged from the previous year.