Federal Employment Agency said that during the winter break, unemployment rose from December to January by 198,000 to 2,426,000. Adjusted for seasonal influences, a slight decrease of 2,000 is calculated for January compared to the previous month. Compared to the previous year, the number of unemployed has increased by 20,000. The unemployment rate rises by 0.4 percentage points to 5.3 percent. Compared to January last year, it has not changed. The unemployment rate determined by the Federal Statistical Office in accordance with the ILO employment concept amounted to 3.2 percent in December.

Underemployment, which also takes into account changes in labour market policy and short-term incapacity for work, remained unchanged in seasonally adjusted terms compared to the previous month. Total underemployment in January 2020 was 3,325,000 people. That was 30,000 more than a year ago.

The demand for new workers continues to decline significantly compared to the previous year, but is still at a high level. In January, 668,000 jobs were registered at BA, 90,000 fewer than a year ago. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of jobs reported to BA decreased by 1,000

"Economic weakness continues to leave its mark on the labour market. Overall, however, it was also robust at the beginning of the year. Unemployment and underemployment rose in January - but mainly for seasonal reasons.", said Detlef Scheele, CEO of the federal employment agency (BA), at the monthly press conference.