Persons in employment resident in Germany, January 2025
0.0% on the previous month (seasonally adjusted)
-0.8% on the previous month (not seasonally adjusted)
-0.1% on the same month a year earlier

Roughly 45.6 million persons resident in Germany were in employment in January 2025. According to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the seasonally adjusted number of persons in employment fell slightly by 9,000 (0.0%) compared with the previous month. Employment increased by an average of 7,000 persons per month in October to December 2024.

Without seasonal adjustment, the number of persons in employment was down in January 2025 compared with December 2024 (-351,000; -0.8%), which is normal for that time of the year. The decline, however, was somewhat more pronounced than the average drop determined for January 2023 and January 2024 (‑316,000; -0.7%).

Year-on-year decrease in employment continues

Compared with January 2024, the number of persons in employment in January 2025 was down by 0.1%, or 37,000. The year-on-year rate of change was also -0.1% in December 2024, after standing at 0.0% in the months of September, October and November. The number of persons in employment therefore remained slightly below the previous year’s level.

Adjusted unemployment rate at 3.5% in January 2025

According to results of the labour force survey, 1.68 million people were unemployed in January 2025. This represented an increase of 271,000, or 19.3%, compared with January 2024. The unemployment rate rose to 3.7% (January 2024: 3.2%).

Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed stood at 1.56 million in January 2025, which was an increase of 9,000 people on December 2024 (+0.6%). Compared with the previous month, the adjusted unemployment rate remained at 3.5%.

Source: DESTATIS
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