Overview
- Adjusted for seasonality, unemployment rose by 3,000 in December, and BA chief Andrea Nahles said conditions remain weak but signs suggest the downturn may have bottomed.
- Employer demand eased further, with 619,000 vacancies reported in December, 35,000 fewer than a year earlier, and newly posted jobs sinking to a 25‑year low.
- Companies continued to use short‑time work, with notifications covering 41,000 employees in December and 203,000 people receiving benefits in October, the latest month with paid data.
- For 2025 overall, registered unemployment averaged 2.948 million, the highest annual level since 2013, with an average jobless rate of 6.3 percent.
- A separate Destatis survey showed 46.0 million employed and 1.64 million ILO‑defined unemployed in November, a 3.7 percent rate that reflects different methodology from BA’s registry.