Labor market: The number of unemployed falls to 2.59 million in July

Contrary to the usual seasonal pattern, the number of unemployed in Germany fell further in July. According to statistics from the Federal Employment Agency, 2.59 million people nationwide were unemployed in July, 24,000 fewer than in June and 320,000 fewer than in July 2020.

The unemployment rate fell to 5.6 percent. According to the Federal Employment Agency, it is the first fall in unemployment in July since 2006. The statistics recorded were data that were received by July 13th.

«The situation on the labor market continues to improve. Unemployment and underemployment have continued to fall sharply despite the beginning of the summer break », said the chairman of the board of the Federal Agency, Detlef Scheele. «Employment growth continues. Companies are increasingly looking for new staff. “

However, the advertisements for short-time work went up again slightly. In the high phase of the corona pandemic, short-time work was used as a means of bridging the labor market so as not to have to lay off staff. Between July 1 and July 25, the Federal Agency received notifications for short-time work for 75,000 people. A month earlier it was 59,000. This can also be related to the fact that industrial companies are currently having to shut down their plants due to supply bottlenecks for raw materials.

Data on the actual use of short-time working will be available by May 2021. According to this, 2.23 million people received short-time work benefits in May. In April 2021 there were 2.34 million. At the height of the first corona lockdown, the federal agency had to pay short-time work benefits for almost six million people in April 2020.