2021.09.3011:58:00UTC+00Germany Unemployment Declines In September

Germany's unemployment continued to decline in September but at a slower pace as supply-side bottleneck weighed on the performance of the manufacturing sector, data published by the Federal Labor Agency showed on Thursday.

The unemployment rate held steady at seasonally adjusted 5.5 percent in September. The expected rate was 5.4 percent.

The number of unemployed decreased 30,000 in September from August, when it was down 53,000. Economists had forecast a decline of 33,000.

The labor market continues to develop positively, Daniel Terzenbach of the Federal Labor Agency said. Unemployment and underemployment are falling sharply.

Employment and the number of jobs are growing and are again above their respective pre-crisis levels, Terzenbach added.

According to the calculations based on the labor force survey, the unemployment held steady at a seasonally adjusted 3.6 percent in August.

The number of unemployed stood at 1.54 million, which was a decline of 17,000 people, or 1.1 percent from July.

Earlier this month, the ifo Institute projected that the German jobless rate is set to fall to 5.1 percent in 2022 from 5.7 percent in 2021.

Official data today showed that the unemployment rate in the euro area slid to 7.5 percent in August, in line with expectations, from 7.6 percent in July.

The number of people out of work decreased 261,000 to 12.162 million in August. Compared to last year, unemployment was down 1.861 million.

The youth unemployment rate in the currency bloc came in at 16.4 percent versus 16.7 percent in July.