ZCZC
BCN-10
GERMANY-ECONOMY-INDICATOR-EMPLOYMENT
No rise in German jobless count as slowdown bites
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, March 2, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A slowdown in the German
economy and gloom in confidence surveys have not weakened the country’s
booming labour market, with official figures showing Friday joblessness
remained at historic lows last month.
Just 5.0 percent of people were out of work in Europe’s largest economy in
February, the Federal Labour Agency (BA) said in seasonally-adjusted figures,
holding fast at the level it first reached in November.
“The labour market remains resilient against the economic slowdown,” BA
chief Detlef Scheele said in a statement.
Surveys of business and investor confidence have fallen in Germany after a
series of one-off shocks hobbled growth in the second half of 2018, while
Berlin has lowered sharply its economic expansion forecast for this year to
just 1.0 percent.
But “employment continues to grow and companies’ demand for new workers
remains at a very high level,” Scheele said.
In unadjusted figures, less representative of underlying trends but more
closely followed in public debate, the unemployment rate was also unchanged
at 5.3 percent or 2.4 million people.
Low unemployment in Europe’s powerhouse is a headache for one institution
— the European Central Bank, which is puzzled over how the tight labour
market and rising wages are not translating into higher inflation.
Price growth in Germany was 1.7 percent in February when measured using
the ECB’s Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices yardstick, short of its target
of just below 2.0 percent for the 19-nation eurozone.
BSS/AFP/HR/0945