BERLIN, March 31 (Reuters) – The number of unemployed people in Germany remained unchanged in March, labour office figures showed on Tuesday.
In seasonally adjusted terms, the jobless figure remained the same as in February at 2.977 million. Analysts and economists had predicted an increase of 2,000 in a Reuters poll.
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate was unchanged at 6.3% compared with a month earlier, in line with the forecast.
“As usual, the spring upturn in the labour market begins in March, however, without any significant momentum this year,” labour office head Andrea Nahles said in a statement.
There were 638,000 job openings registered with the labour office in March, 5,000 fewer than a year ago.
Labour market data typically react with a lag to geopolitical shocks such as the Iran conflict, as companies often wait before cutting hiring or jobs until the economic fallout becomes clearer.
Germany’s economy has struggled to grow since the COVID-19 pandemic, as rising competition from China and higher energy prices have strained its export-driven economic model, with a renewed surge in energy prices due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran posing a further threat to its long-awaited recovery.
Germany’s leading economic institutes cut their economic growth forecasts for this year and next, and sharply raised their inflation forecasts in response, sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Miranda Murray and Maria MartinezEditing by Madeline Chambers)
