By Maria Martinez
BERLIN, Jan 30 (Reuters) – The number of unemployed people in Germany passed the 3 million mark at the start of 2026 and reached a 12-year high, labour office figures showed on Friday, reflecting the lag in the labour market from economic stagnation in previous years.
The threshold was reached in seasonally unadjusted terms, with an increase of 177,000 in the number of people out of work to 3.08 million. The unemployment rate increased by 0.4 percentage points to 6.6% in unadjusted terms.
“There is currently little momentum in the labour market,” said labour office director Andrea Nahles. “At the start of the year, unemployment rose markedly for seasonal reasons.”
UNCHANGED IN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED TERMS
However, when accounting for seasonal trends, the labour office said the number of unemployed was unchanged compared with the previous month.
The jobless figure remained the same as in December, at 2.976 million, while analysts and economists in a Reuters poll had predicted an increase by 4,000.
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate was unchanged from 6.3% a month earlier, also in line with the forecast.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has promised to haul Europe’s largest economy out of its downturn with a sharp increase in infrastructure and defence spending. However, those measures are taking longer than expected to translate into better conditions on the ground.
(Writing by Friederike Heine; editing by Miranda Murray and Mark Heinrich)
