Weak economy leaves more unemployed in Germany

BERLIN: Germany's weak economic performance has "left its mark" on the country's labour market as the number of unemployed people increased by 62,000 month-on-month to almost 2.62 million in July, the Federal Employment Agency said.

The unemployment rate in Europe's largest economy climbed to 5.7 per cent in July, according to the agency.

"The German labour market is robust, but the economic development in the coming months is associated with high uncertainties," Xinhua quoted the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs as saying in a statement.

The pace of employment growth in Germany slowed in recent months and came to a complete halt in June with 45.7 million residents in employment, according to provisional calculations published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

After a technical recession with two consecutive quarters of economic contraction, Germany's gross domestic product stagnated at 0.0 per cent in the second quarter of 2023, according to preliminary figures.

"There are slightly positive trends in private consumption and investment, but this is not enough, and it is anything but satisfactory," Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck said, citing structural problems such as a shortage of skilled workers as an important factor.

To address the problem, the government is relying heavily on immigration and has already introduced a new law recently to facilitate labour migration from countries outside the European Union.