NUREMBERG (dpa-AFX) – The Nuremberg Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (IAB) is concerned about developments on the labor market in Germany. The IAB labor market barometer fell for the fourth time in a row in December and, at 99.2 points, is at its lowest level since the corona pandemic. “The employment agencies expect that unemployment will continue to rise at the beginning of the new year,” says IAB researcher Enzo Weber.
The index attempts to predict the development of employment and seasonally adjusted unemployment figures for the next three months. The component predicting unemployment fell another 0.2 points to 97.6 points. This means that it is clearly in pessimistic territory, meaning the outlook continues to deteriorate.
The labor market is divided into two parts
The employment component fell by 0.3 points to 100.8 points. “The labor market is divided into two: industry, construction and temporary work lose, health, education and transport gain,” says Weber. “Employment is declining in smaller companies, not in the larger ones.”
According to the Federal Agency, 2.77 million people were registered as unemployed in November, 168,000 more than a year ago. “The development has been going in the wrong direction since autumn 2023,” said the CEO of the Federal Employment Agency, Andrea Nahles./rol/DP/nas