Employment in Germany continues to drop in Jan 2026

Without seasonal adjustment, this number dropped by 369,000, or 0.8 per cent MoM, with the decrease being a usual seasonal phenomenon.

The seasonally-adjusted number of employed in Germany fell by 14,000 month on month (MoM) in January to 45.5 million, provisional data show.
This number was down by 0.2 per cent YoY in the month.
Around 1.86 million were unemployed in January—a rise of 11.7 per cent YoY.
The unemployment rate rose to 4.2 per cent—a rise of 0.5 pp YoY.
The number of unemployed, at 1.75 million, rose by 0.4 per cent MoM.

In the period from May to December 2025, the number was down by an average of 12,000 MoM.

The number of employed in January 2026 was down by 88,000, or 0.2 per cent, year on year (YoY).

The downward trend in the YoY labour market figures, observed since August 2025, continued, a Destatis release said.

According to the Destatis Labour Force Survey, 1.86 million were unemployed in January 2026—an increase of 195,000, or 11.7 per cent, YoY. The unemployment rate rose to 4.2 per cent—an increase of 0.5 percentage point (pp) YoY.

Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed in January stood at 1.75 million—a MoM increase of 6,000, or 0.4 per cent. The adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4 per cent.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)